Kiss and Tell: Loose Lips Sink Ships
by TexasWatermelon
Summary: Quinn goes to Carmel High and deals with an alcoholic mother. Shelby saves her, but ends up getting them into an even bigger mess than anyone ever imagined. All warnings inside; please read them first. Quinn/Shelby, Quinn/Brittany, Rachel/Santana.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **Kiss and Tell (Loose Lips Sink Ships)  
><strong>Author: <strong>texaswatermelon  
><strong>Fandom:<strong> Glee  
><strong>Pairing:<strong> Quinn/Shelby, eventual Quinn/Brittany, eventual Rachel/Santana  
><strong>Rating:<strong> R, for language and possible adult situations  
><strong>Summary:<strong> _Most people in Vocal Adrenaline tend to feel one of two ways about Shelby Corcoran: they either loathe her with all the fire of a thousand of Carmel High's stage lights, or they possess some amount of sickening admiration for her. Quinn is really a mix of these two extremes._  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Glee is property of Ryan Murphy Television and 20th Century Fox. All characters, places, and recognizable names herein have been borrowed for the use of this fanfiction. Title from "XO" by Fall Out Boy. This story is a work of fiction and is in no way affiliated with the aforementioned groups. No infringement intended.  
><strong>AN: **AU Quinn has always gone to Carmel school district, so none of her storyline from Glee applies. This takes place during the same year as season 1 of Glee, so just assume spoilers for all episodes. On the WMHS side of things, there will be an OC who will replace Quinn and take over her whole plot. Assume that everything follows cannon over there unless otherwise mentioned in the story. As far as Vocal Adrenalin goes, I'll be mentioning some real characters and some OC characters, so don't get confused there. If anything is unclear, just ask and I'll try my best to Windex that shit. Unbeta'd; all mistakes are my own.  
><strong>Warnings:<strong> This story deals with issues of alcoholism, abuse of prescription medication, neglect, minor instances of child abuse, student/teacher relationships, sexual relations with a minor, and of course femslash. Now, as far as I know, the legal age of consent in Ohio is 16, but it's still pretty taboo; we're talking about a relationship between a sixteen-year-old and a woman in her mid thirties, so. If any of that stuff is a bother to you, I would suggest finding something else to read. Also, angst. So, that being said, please enjoy.

**Note:** Against my better judgement, I'm posting this story here before it's finished because... well, whatever, I'm an attention whore so. I do plan on finishing it, probably more than I've ever planned on finishing a story in my life, but if it takes me a while to do it, I'm sorry. Just bear with me. Oh, and when I say _eventual_ Quinn/Brittany and _eventual_ Rachel/Santana, I mean REALLY eventual. So don't get impatient or anything. Also, most of these chapters will probably be anywhere from 2,000-3,500 words, a.k.a. annoyingly short. Sorry about that.

* * *

><p>The lights are relentless. They're about to take their fifth five-minute sunscreen break, because the last application of block has already melted off of their skin, and some of the paler girls are beginning to turn pink with the heat exposure. And yet, the lights continue to blaze down on them so fiercely that you can hear them buzz with electricity if you listen for it in the off moments when they're being scolded for doing something wrong.<p>

Quinn sighs as the cool lotion soothes the heat on her face, even as it smears around and refuses to absorb into her skin because there's too much sweat beaded there to allow it. It's only five o' clock, maybe even five-thirty. She knows this not because she has a watch or a cell phone or even a clock within the vicinity with which to tell time-they are not allowed such distractions as those during practice-but because there are five empty coffee cups strewn across the wooden table in front of the stage, and one cup approximately half full clutched tightly behind slender, white fingers. After one whole year of performing in Vocal Adrenaline, Quinn has learned to tell time in Starbucks. Shelby usually limits herself to one cup of coffee per hour, sometimes less if it's a particularly bad day and she has to spend more time yelling and less time drinking.

Most people in Vocal Adrenaline tend to feel one of two ways about Shelby Corcoran: they either loathe her with all the fire of a thousand of Carmel High's stage lights, or they possess some amount of sickening admiration for her, the level of which reminds Quinn of a gaggle of imprinted ducklings.

Quinn is really a mix of these two extremes. She admires Shelby's dedication and success. She knows that if it wasn't for Shelby, Vocal Adrenaline would be just another no-name Ohio state high school glee club that only ever comes _thisclose_ to winning titles, but can never clinch that last vital vote. Shelby does not accept such mediocrity, and Quinn values that. She also enjoys watching Shelby perform, because she isn't the type of coach to sit back and yell orders at people until they get their heads out of their asses and do it right. If something isn't going the way she wants it to, she'll get up on stage and show them how it's done. She has a wonderful, captivating kind of voice that's full of all kinds of pain and regret that Quinn knows she will never understand, and she can tell that Shelby adores these chances to reclaim the spotlight for herself every once in a while. She's a totally different person on stage; energetic and glowing and just gorgeous. Quinn admires that.

What Quinn does not admire is Shelby's tendency to be unforgiving. She's pretty sure that the amount of time they spend practicing after school every day has to be against some like, child labor law or something. And she tolerates no mistakes. If you fuck up, Shelby will let you and the entire rest of the team know it. You get no pity or mercy from her; those things tend to breed losers, and Shelby Corcoran only breeds winners.

So, there are approximately six and a half hours left for practice today, and Quinn doesn't really mind. She's hot and tired and her feet have so many blisters she thinks that they'll probably resemble the Stay Puft marshmallow man when she finally cuts them out of her shoes. But she doesn't mind. She knows that it's worth it in the end, to practice so much that you can be no less than perfect; to have the melodies etched into your vocal cords and the choreography carved into your muscles. To be a part of a winning team, no matter what the personal sacrifice. Quinn knows she hasn't always been this ambitious. There was a point in her life when she was content to just take life as it came. Somewhere along the line, whether very gradually or very rapidly, all of that changed. She feels the constant need to go out and take what she wants from life, because life will not give it to her free of charge. That's why she puts up with nine and a half hour long practices every day.

That, and because every minute that she doesn't have to be at home is like a gift directly from God.

xx

When practice is finally over, Dustin drives her home. Dustin is an amazing guy that Quinn met in seventh grade after he'd transferred from a school in Minnesota. He was quiet and shy, a little awkward perhaps, but he pulled Quinn's chair out for her when she was assigned to sit beside him in Algebra class, and he offered to carry her books for her on their way to earth science. He's her best friend in the whole world; the only person she actually considers to be a true friend, and on most days he is her one and only saving grace, when even belting her lungs out on stage does nothing to lift her spirits.

He hops out of the car once they come to a stop in front of Quinn's house; a small rancher built sometime in the 1950s in an uninteresting neighborhood where all of the neighbors are at least fifty years old and have been living in the same houses on the same street for their entire lives. Before she can even open her door, Dustin has done it for her and he grabs her book bag and helps her down out of the obnoxious Range Rover that he and all of the other kids on the team (with licenses) own, compliments of the booster club. He walks her to the door, hands her the bag, and stands there with his hands in his pockets and a lopsided grin on his face.

"Good practice today, yeah?" he says, rocking on his heels a bit to keep from fidgeting with himself. He's always doing that, always tapping or shaking or moving some part of his body like he's got a billion amps of energy surging through his body at all times and needs to give it some sort of outlet so that he doesn't explode. His ruddy brown hair shifts a little with the breeze, like a field of wheat that bends and sways with the will of the wind.

"Not too bad," Quinn replies, shouldering her bag and leaning against the door jamb. Quinn is glad that Dustin can sing, that he joined Vocal Adrenaline with her even if he really didn't want to. She's glad to have someone there with her that she knows isn't out to sabotage or sleep with her. (The sabotage thing is incredibly likely, especially since Shelby has started giving her more solos this year.)

"Well, I don't want to hold you up too long. It's late, and you've got that Spanish test tomorrow. You should get to sleep," Dustin says gently. He knows the situation, knows that Quinn doesn't mind if they stay out there all night talking or sleeping or staring at each other if it means she doesn't have to face what's on the other side of that door. He wishes he could save her, has told her as much before, but she assures him that he saves her every day just by being her friend. It's not enough for him, but he'll never tell her that.

Quinn nods her assent, thanks him for the ride, gives him a kiss on the cheek. She takes a deep breath and twists the knob on the door slowly, stepping in with one last glance over her shoulder. Dustin waits until she's shut the door to walk back to his car. His heart sinks and soars all at once, like it usually does whenever Quinn is around. He knows that she will never see him as anything more than a friend. It doesn't seem fair, but being Quinn's friend is better than being nothing at all to her, and there's a part of him that likes the pain a little more than it should.

Inside, the lights are a murky yellow, bouncing off of murky yellow walls and a murky yellow ceiling, getting lost in an ugly brown carpet. Quinn can hear the soft chatter of the television, some infomercial that started playing once midnight hit and was allowed to remain on the television. She walks into the living room area, tip-toeing and trying to stay silent as she heads towards the couch. Already she can spot the source of her misery littered across the coffee table: a tall glass bottle with only a third of Vladimir Vodka left. Quinn sighs. That bottle had been unopened when she'd left that morning. Beside it are various containers of prescription painkillers, some of them with the caps thrown half way across the table.

On the couch lies Judy Fabray, Quinn's one and only mother. Quinn stares at her for a moment, her slightly wrinkled skin and splotchy complexion illuminated in the blues and whites of the television set. Her flaxen hair is ragged and unkempt, splayed across the pillows like the mane of a crippled lion. Black spandex pants and a Carmel High sweatshirt hang limply on the tiny body.

Quinn looks at her mother and tries, tries with all her might to hate her, but she cannot, so she hates herself instead.

She takes up the television remote and stabs at the power button angrily. The tube dies out and static crackles across the surface of the screen for a moment before it settles as well. At the sudden absence of sound, Judy stirs, her eyes cracking open and squinting against the dim light. It seems to take her a second or two before she even realizes who Quinn is, but when she does she attempts a smile that turns out to be more of a grimace.

"Quinnie, you're home." Her voice is rough from sleep and Vlady, but she makes no attempt to clear it or repeat herself. "How was school?"

Quinn does not answer; she never does. She merely unfolds the blanket that hangs over the back of the couch and lays it over her mother, tucking it in around her shoulders.

"Goodnight, Mom," she whispers, kissing Judy on her clammy forehead before she walks down the hall that leads to her room. She makes no effort to stay awake and study, or get on the internet and connect with the rest of the world, or do anything that most of her teammates are probably doing right now. Instead, she throws on an oversized t-shirt, brushes her teeth, and crawls into bed. Sleep comes eventually, but it puts up a fair fight.


	2. Chapter 2

**Title:**Kiss and Tell (Loose Lips Sink Ships)  
><strong>Author:<strong>texaswatermelon  
><strong>Fandom:<strong> Glee  
><strong>Pairing:<strong> Quinn/Shelby, eventual Quinn/Brittany, eventual Rachel/Santana  
><strong>Rating:<strong> R, for language and possible adult situations  
><strong>Summary:<strong> _Most people in Vocal Adrenaline tend to feel one of two ways about Shelby Corcoran: they either loathe her with all the fire of a thousand of Carmel High's stage lights, or they possess some amount of sickening admiration for her. Quinn is really a mix of these two extremes._  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Glee is property of Ryan Murphy Television and 20th Century Fox. All characters, places, and recognizable names herein have been borrowed for the use of this fanfiction. Title from "XO" by Fall Out Boy. This story is a work of fiction and is in no way affiliated with the aforementioned groups. No infringement intended.  
><strong>AN:**AU Quinn has always gone to Carmel school district, so none of her storyline from Glee applies. This takes place during the same year as season 1 of Glee, so just assume spoilers for all episodes. On the WMHS side of things, there will be an OC who will replace Quinn and take over her whole plot. Assume that everything follows cannon over there unless otherwise mentioned in the story. As far as Vocal Adrenalin goes, I'll be mentioning some real characters and some OC characters, so don't get confused there. If anything is unclear, just ask and I'll try my best to Windex that shit. Unbeta'd; all mistakes are my own.  
><strong>Warnings:<strong> This story deals with issues of alcoholism, abuse of prescription medication, neglect, minor instances of child abuse, student/teacher relationships, sexual relations with a minor, and of course femslash. Now, as far as I know, the legal age of consent in Ohio is 16, but it's still pretty taboo; we're talking about a relationship between a sixteen-year-old and a woman in her mid thirties, so. If any of that stuff is a bother to you, I would suggest finding something else to read. Also, angst. So, that being said, please enjoy.

* * *

><p>In the morning, Quinn leaves before Judy even stirs, slipping out into the chilled air with a pair of dark blue jeans and an old red hoodie that is still two sizes too big for her and has seen its share of abuse throughout the years. Dustin is waiting for her, and he greets her with a big smile and a cup of coffee. Quinn smiles back, hazel eyes twinkling with relief now that she's with him and on her way to school again.<p>

The school day passes too quickly for her, like grains of sand that constantly sift through her fingers no matter how desperately she tries to hold onto them. Quinn takes her Spanish test, blazes through it with ease, and spends the rest of the period drawing tiny stars and music notes on the inside of her wrist with a smooth black pen.

At lunch, she and Dustin sit with a few of the other kids in Vocal Adrenaline. Not Jesse and his crew, although he would like nothing more than for Quinn to become a part of that scene. He's tried many times to seduce her into his little group with slick speeches about the two of them taking over the spotlight together with his powerful voice and her sultry tones. If she sticks with Jesse St. James, he says, he'll help her carve a path to success when she comes to New York after her graduation in two years. He doesn't seem to believe her when she says that she doesn't want a career on Broadway.

After lunch, it's English Lit., taught by none other than Shelby Corcoran. Shelby smiles at them as Quinn and Dustin come in the room. She loves her kids, Quinn knows. She's proud of them for doing so well. She pushes them because she wants them to be able to do what she herself was never able to achieve. Quinn's never told her that she has no interest in having anything to do with professional singing after high school, but she figures that Shelby probably knows. She doesn't mind, because Quinn still puts everything she's got into glee, but Quinn can always tell when she sings one of her solos that Shelby thinks she'll be wasting her talent if she doesn't at least try to make it big on Broadway.

"You guys had a good practice last night," Shelby says as they pass by her desk.

"Thanks, Ms. C," is Dustin's reply. Quinn offers a gentle smile and nothing more.

"I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that we'll be ending practice very early today. I've got a doctor's appointment, so I figured I'd use it as an excuse to give you all a break for once since we seem to be doing pretty well on the first number for sectionals so far."

Quinn's face drops for a moment before she manages to school it again, but Dustin taps her excitedly on the arm and tells her that she can go to his place after practice and he can help her with her chemistry homework, since she isn't doing very well in that subject right now. Quinn secretly wants to marry him for the suggestion and her face stretches in a genuine smile.

"Yeah," she agrees. "That would be great." When she glances ahead and catches Shelby's eye, she knows that her coach saw everything and understands, even if she doesn't know the details of the situation. Quinn's eyes dart down to stare at her hands and she feels an inexplicable heat creeping over her face under the scrutiny of Shelby's intelligent stare. She doesn't look back up until several minutes after class has started and Shelby's begun writing various quotes and ideas on the chalkboard.

xx

At 2:15 Quinn makes her way to the locker rooms to change into her practice clothes. On her way through the door, Andrea Cohen shoulder checks her, clearly on purpose. Quinn stumbles backward one step, shoulder protesting at the sudden forceful contact. She glares down at the girl, clenching her teeth to keep from baring them in a growl.

"Watch it Fabray," Andrea sneers. "People might start to think you're just as much of a stumbling drunk as your mother." She tosses her hair over her shoulder smugly while two nameless girls follow her out, laughing at her joke. Quinn throws open the closest locker with a loud bang and begins changing furiously.

Andrea has been a bitch to her since the day last November when Shelby decided she didn't like the way that Andrea was singing something and asked Quinn to do it instead. For the most part, Quinn has been able to shake it off, but Andrea stepped things up the minute she spotted Judy ranting drunkenly at the pharmacy over the summer when there was a slight mix up with the insurance information. Quinn has not been able to go two days since school started without some sort of barb about Judy's habits.

She storms across the pit in the auditorium, cheeks tinted pink with rage; the papers on Shelby's table flap in protest as she blows past, causing the coach to look up from her quiet conversation with Jesse. Jesse takes notice as well, watching Quinn stomp up on stage to join Dustin as they all warm up. He looks at Shelby to see her reaction, but her impassive face tells no secrets, so he nods his assent at her previously spoken instructions and quietly joins the others on stage. Shelby continues to watch Quinn from afar, but the blonde appears to be so wrapped up in her own anger that she doesn't even notice the pair of watchful brown eyes that have settled on her.

Dustin notices it all, and his gaze flicks from Shelby's relentless stare, to Quinn's seething face, to Andrea's self-satisfied smirk. He understands at least part of the equation, and silently entwines his fingers with Quinn's, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. Quinn looks over at him, his reassuring smile that tells her that he'll always be there no matter what anyone else says or does, and feels her body relax for the first time in the last ten minutes. She squeezes back. Shelby watches a moment longer, feels her lips threaten to quirk slightly, and claps her hands together loudly to signal the start of practice.

Practice is over in no time. They've spent the entire session working on the choreography for "Summer Nights," and Shelby promises they'll continue with that tomorrow. Quinn hops off the stage like it's on fire and makes for the dressing room before she has to risk having another unfortunate run in with Andrea. Shelby has different plans, however, and intercepts her in the middle of the pit.

"Everything okay?" she asks, face serious and eyebrow raised.

Quinn allows herself to be surprised and nods. "Yeah, it's fine." Shelby is not convinced, but she lets it go.

"I want you to be ready to start practicing a solo on Friday," Shelby says. When Quinn doesn't look as happy as Shelby thinks she should be, she continues. "We're going to do "All That Jazz" at sectionals. I want you to sing it."

"Me?" Quinn asks, eyes wide with disbelief.

"Unless I got the wrong Quinn Fabray, then yes, you," Shelby replies sarcastically, but there is a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "It'll be a good song for you, and I know you can handle it. Come ready to prove me right on Friday."

She puts a hand just below Quinn's shoulder and squeezes, smiles reassuringly, almost affectionately, and walks away to speak with Jesse again. Quinn is rooted to the spot until Dustin comes over to get her.

"What was that all about?" he asks curiously.

"Solo," Quinn replies, frowning slightly. She starts walking again, towards the locker rooms so she can change. "She wants me to do "All That Jazz" at sectionals."

"What? That's awesome!" Dustin exclaims, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her in for a congratulatory hug.

"Yeah," she says, trying to sound excited for his sake. "Really awesome."

Several hours and sixty-two balancing equation problems later, and Quinn reluctantly tells Dustin that she has to go home. It's not that she doesn't want to stay, even if it means doing so much chemistry homework that she wants to tear her eyeballs out of her skull by the end of the night, but it's that she doesn't have any real excuse. At least when she's at glee practice, she can convince herself that it's okay if she's out of the house from seven in the morning until midnight. But on days like today, when she doesn't have practice, she can only justify hiding from her mother and her problems for so long before she feels the weight of it crushing down on her shoulders and she has to go home to relieve it. She knows that it doesn't make a difference to Judy either way; she's either sleeping half the time or gazing around in a Vicodin Martini-induced haze. Still, some part of Quinn believes that she at least has to _try_ to be around if she's got nothing else to do.

Dustin is understandably disappointed, but he would never dream of trying to change her mind on this subject. He offers to drive her home, but Quinn refuses. Fresh air, she says, like it's the end all be all of explanations. Dustin doesn't argue about that, either. He helps her gather her things up, walks her to the door, and congratulates her on her solo once more.

"And Quinn," he says, just as she steps outside, a level of seriousness on his face that Quinn rarely ever sees, "whatever Andrea said, it doesn't matter. She's not even a quarter of the person you are."

Quinn smiles at him, despite the vice grip that's taken hold of her throat, and quickly turns away in case she can't control the tears that are threatening to well in her eyes or the sob that tries to rip from her throat. She never tells him, will never tell anyone, how afraid she is that he's wrong about that. How afraid she is that Andrea is right; that twenty years from now Quinn will be in the exact situation that her mother is in right now. She could never force the words to come out to express the utter terror that grips her when she sees herself in Judy Fabray.


	3. Chapter 3

**Title:**Kiss and Tell (Loose Lips Sink Ships)  
><strong>Author:<strong>texaswatermelon  
><strong>Fandom:<strong> Glee  
><strong>Pairing:<strong> Quinn/Shelby, eventual Quinn/Brittany, eventual Rachel/Santana  
><strong>Rating:<strong> R, for language and possible adult situations  
><strong>Summary:<strong> _Most people in Vocal Adrenaline tend to feel one of two ways about Shelby Corcoran: they either loathe her with all the fire of a thousand of Carmel High's stage lights, or they possess some amount of sickening admiration for her. Quinn is really a mix of these two extremes._  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Glee is property of Ryan Murphy Television and 20th Century Fox. All characters, places, and recognizable names herein have been borrowed for the use of this fanfiction. Title from "XO" by Fall Out Boy. This story is a work of fiction and is in no way affiliated with the aforementioned groups. No infringement intended.  
><strong>AN:**AU Quinn has always gone to Carmel school district, so none of her storyline from Glee applies. This takes place during the same year as season 1 of Glee, so just assume spoilers for all episodes. On the WMHS side of things, there will be an OC who will replace Quinn and take over her whole plot. Assume that everything follows cannon over there unless otherwise mentioned in the story. As far as Vocal Adrenalin goes, I'll be mentioning some real characters and some OC characters, so don't get confused there. If anything is unclear, just ask and I'll try my best to Windex that shit. Unbeta'd; all mistakes are my own.  
><strong>Warnings:<strong> This story deals with issues of alcoholism, abuse of prescription medication, neglect, minor instances of child abuse, student/teacher relationships, sexual relations with a minor, and of course femslash. Now, as far as I know, the legal age of consent in Ohio is 16, but it's still pretty taboo; we're talking about a relationship between a sixteen-year-old and a woman in her mid thirties, so. If any of that stuff is a bother to you, I would suggest finding something else to read. Also, angst. So, that being said, please enjoy.

* * *

><p>She prepares for Friday. It's not all that easy finding time to practice for a song when she's got so much else to do, but she downloads the song onto her iPod and sings it whenever she can: in the shower, between classes, breaks during practice, just before she drifts exhaustedly to sleep at night. She thinks she's got it covered by the time she shows up to practice Friday afternoon. Shelby doesn't ask her if she's ready; she just gives her a slight nod and something resembling a grin when Quinn gets up on stage and stands in front of the microphone. For today it'll just be finding a way to work harmonies and accompaniments around Quinn's performance. They'll work the choreography all next week.<p>

Before she starts, Quinn tosses a look over her shoulder to the people standing behind her. Andrea is glaring at her like she wishes she could shoot laser beams out of her eyes. Dustin beams at her brightly and she can't help but smile back. Jesse winks at her, not in a creepy way, necessarily, but in a way that says he knows she's got talent, and he trusts her not to associate him with failure. Down in the pit, Shelby is staring at her with a blank face and eyes full of expectations. Quinn shivers slightly, blushes, clears her throat.

She's not nervous, really. She's had solos before. But she's never had a whole song just to herself that was going to be featured at a competition. This is a chance to prove herself, although to whom she isn't sure. Maybe to her fellow teammates, who are all counting on her to do well so that they can have a perfect set at sectionals; maybe to Dustin, who gives her so much love and kindness unconditionally, when she's not even sure she deserves it; maybe to Shelby, whose opinion suddenly matters so much to Quinn that it nearly makes her sick; or maybe, probably more than the rest, she needs to prove it to herself that she has the potential to be more than what life has made her be: the fatherless daughter of an alcoholic mother with no real family to support her.

So she sings. Her voice is low, sultry, and a little gravelly at times. She was a little afraid she might mess up, but once the words come out it's like breathing. She doesn't need to think, only to feel. She stares directly at Shelby the entire time, because everyone else in the room is standing behind her and she needs to make a connection with at least some member of the audience. So she uses it to convey a message, looks at Shelby pointedly with confident hazel eyes as if to say, "See, you trusted me, and I'm making sure you don't regret it." Shelby does not smile, doesn't change her expression in any way at all, but Quinn can see her eyes soften even from a distance, and it's as good as any verbal praise she could receive.

"Nice job, Quinn," Shelby says when she's finished, a genuine smile on her face. "That's how it's done, people. Let's start putting it together." Andrea scoffs behind her, but Quinn doesn't care. She feels something imperceptible has changed within her.

Judy is awake when she gets home that night. She's still lying on the couch, still got one-and-a-half empty bottles of booze and a menagerie of narcotics on the table, still looks at Quinn with half dazed eyes when she walks in, but when she asks how Quinn's day went, Quinn does not ignore her for the first time in many, many years.

"It was good," she replies. "I got a solo in glee. I'm going to sing it at sectionals." For a moment, Judy looks so surprised, and it's the most sober that Quinn has seen her in a very long time. She kisses her mother on the cheek, hugs her. "I still love you, Mom," she whispers, and heads down the hall to take a shower.

It is nothing close to forgiveness, but it's enough to make Judy feel sick the next time her eyes land on the clear liquid in front of her.

xx

They bring Dakota Stanley in on Monday, and by Friday Quinn wants to slit her wrists and force the little midget to drink every last drop of her blood until he drowns in it. She has not had a good day. She's been feeling some kind of sickness settle into her body for the past few days, she failed her chem. quiz _again_ today, and she came home last night to find that her mother had restocked the entire cabinet of booze, enough to last her for at least another two weeks. To top it all off, Andrea Cohen "accidentally" spilled an entire bowl of Italian wedding soup in her lap at lunch time, effectively burning the shit out of her thighs.

Dakota gets so frustrated with them that he lets them go an hour early. Quinn stomps into her house, not even giving Dustin a chance to walk her to the door. Judy is passed out again and snoring loudly, which Quinn knows only occurs when she's had at least two-fifths worth of vodka _and_ a handful of pills. The choked breathing grates at her second by second and the sound of annoying late-night television makes her head pound. And then, Quinn's phone rings.

"Hey, Alcoholics Anonymous, just wanted to let you know that you _sucked_ today." The voice is unmistakably one of Andrea's cronies, but the call was blocked. As the dial tone rings in her ear, Quinn snaps.

She swoops down upon the coffee table and grabs up liquor and pills like a hawk snatching rodents from the forest floor. The pills rattle in protest against the sides of their containers as she storms into the kitchen, tossing them into the sink. She then commences dumping the rest of the vodka that her mother didn't drink that day down the drain. The liquid swirls chalky white, pink, and blue as the coating quickly starts to dissolve from the pills. It's not enough, though, so she rips the doors of the liquor cabinet open with a loud bang and proceeds tearing bottles down from the shelf, glass clinking angrily in the process.

Judy is startled awake by this point. It takes her a moment to gather her surroundings, another moment for the spinning to stop when she sits up. By the time she makes it to the kitchen, Quinn has already dumped two full bottles down the drain. The second one cracks slightly as she slams it down on the counter.

"What the hell are you doing," Judy demands, watching in horror as her salvation swirls down the drain. Quinn does not answer; she merely opens a third bottle and turns it upside down over the sink. Judy is jolted into action by this as she sees the tiny remains of chalky pills follow the liquid down. She grabs Quinn's wrist to stop her from continuing.

"Get off of me," Quinn growls, trying to rip her arm away. But despite Judy's condition, she is still stronger than her daughter and she manages to whip Quinn around to face her. Quinn's eyes are a blaze of hazel fury, and Judy's expression easily mimics hers. Defiantly, Quinn grabs the bottle with her other hand and starts dumping it on the floor.

"Stop it!" Judy yells, but it's too late. That bottle is lost. There's only one more left. Quinn is closer; she can reach it before Judy can. "Don't you fucking dare." Her voice is low, an animalistic warning. Judy Fabray is a lion and that bottle is her prey. Quinn's eyebrow quirks.

"What's wrong, _Mother_? Afraid you might have to see clearly for the first time in ten years?" she asks, her voice cold and cruel.

"You don't know what you're talking about. Stop being ridiculous," Judy orders. She is very afraid that if she says the wrong thing, Quinn will destroy that bottle.

"Oh _I_ don't know what I'm talking about?" Quinn exclaims hysterically. "I'm not the one who's been drugged up for the past ten years! I'm not the one who's been lying on my ass trying to avoid reality for a decade! _I_ don't know what I'm talking about? You probably don't even know what's going on right now!"

"Don't you speak to me like that, Quinn Fabray," Judy yells furiously. "I'm your mother." Every emotion on Quinn's face washes away in an instant and Judy feels her stomach clench in anticipation.

"Fuck. You."

Before she can even react, Quinn has taken the last bottle in her free hand and launched it at the far wall. Judy's eyes follow it, watch it twirl through the air as if in slow motion, see the glass crack, splinter, shatter, explode, watch the liquor spread outward, then splash to the floor. For a moment she is frozen in shock. Then rage, searing, boiling rage erupts through her body like a volcano. Her hand moves of its own accord, cutting through the air until it crashes against Quinn's face.

The pain doesn't register at first. Quinn feels the knuckles connect with her cheek, feels the ice of her mother's fingers on her skin, feels her head snap back in reaction. But it's not until Judy has stumbled back away from her, eyes wide with disbelief, face flushed with anger, that the pain begins to rocket through her face, bringing tears to her eyes that she refuses to allow Judy to see. She practically sprints out of the kitchen, throws her bag over her shoulder, and runs into the street with a final slam of the front door. Judy makes no move to stop or follow her.

xx

She's startled awake by the sound of the auditorium doors clattering shut. Fearing the principal or some patrol officer, she jumps up and turns to face the intruder. She is both eased and shaken by what she sees.

"Quinn?" Shelby asks, a frown creasing her face. She walks a few steps down the aisle towards Quinn. "What are you doing here?" Quinn doesn't answer; doesn't have slightest idea what she would even say. Shelby is right in front of her now, and her deep brown eyes widen very suddenly. "Jesus, Quinn, what happened to you?"

Quinn turns her head so that she doesn't have to look at the pure concern in Shelby's eyes, and so that Shelby can no longer see the angry purple swell just under her left eye. "It's nothing," she mutters.

She feels cold fingers under her chin, forcing her to turn her head back around. A lump forms in her throat as they carefully graze just under the bruise.

"Quinn," Shelby says firmly, forcing her to look up. "Did someone hurt you?" Quinn's silence and dropped gaze is answer enough. "Who did this to you?" It's more of a demand than a question, and Quinn knows that she can't ignore this one. Shelby will not stop until she gets to the bottom of this. She silently curses herself for coming to a place where she could be so easily discovered. Shelby's eyes are burning holes into her skull.

"It was my mom." She says so quietly that it barely even comes out of her mouth at all, hoping that Shelby won't be able to hear her. She should have known better. Shelby Corcoran hears everything.

Shelby's eyes harden instantly in a way that Quinn has never seen before and she suddenly feels so terrified that tears begin to prick at her eyes. "Quinn, I want you to tell me—_and do not lie_—if this has ever happened before.

"No!" Quinn says immediately, then adds: "I swear," when Shelby looks unconvinced.

For a while she is quiet, staring down at Quinn with unreadable eyes, much in the same way that she does when something is going wrong during a rehearsal and she's contemplating how exactly she wants to fix it. Finally, she sighs and throws her head in the direction of the doors.

"Come on."

Quinn is startled by this. "What?" she asks, and then an irrational fear overtakes her. Shelby is probably going to take her to a police station or a social services agency and force her to turn Judy in for abuse. That is exactly the last thing that Quinn wants. Judy may be a drunk, but she's not abusive, not physically anyway, and she doesn't deserve to be throw in jail. Last night was just as much Quinn's fault as it was her mother's. She shakes her head emphatically and backs away. "No, Ms. Corcoran, really I'm fine. I was just getting ready to go back home and sort things out anyway…"

"Quinn, I can't knowingly let you go back to a place where you might be in danger." Quinn winces at that word. Her mother has never been _dangerous_. "Not only is it illegal, but it's completely unthinkable. Look, I'm not going to cart you off to social services or anything; I'm just going to take you to my place for the weekend until we can figure out how to handle the situation."

She wants to argue again, to tell Shelby that it's really not necessary and that it was probably a total accident in the first place. But she knows Shelby too well to believe that she'll take no for an answer. She nods, swallowing nervously, and steps closer, allowing Shelby to put an arm around her and lead her out of the auditorium.

"How did you get in here, anyway?" Shelby asks curiously as they walk down the hall.

"The lock on the backstage door is broken," Quinn replies quietly. Shelby smirks.

The ride to Shelby's place is excruciating. They don't speak, and Quinn is glad for that because she is intensely afraid of what Shelby might ask her if she does. She's got this nasty churning in her stomach, the kind that can only come from an immense uncertainty. She tries not to think of the situation at hand, but it's impossible. What else is there to think of?


	4. Chapter 4

**Title: **Kiss and Tell (Loose Lips Sink Ships)  
><strong>Author: <strong>texaswatermelon  
><strong>Fandom:<strong> Glee  
><strong>Pairing:<strong> Quinn/Shelby, eventual Quinn/Brittany, eventual Rachel/Santana  
><strong>Rating:<strong> R, for language and possible adult situations  
><strong>Summary:<strong> _Most people in Vocal Adrenaline tend to feel one of two ways about Shelby Corcoran: they either loathe her with all the fire of a thousand of Carmel High's stage lights, or they possess some amount of sickening admiration for her. Quinn is really a mix of these two extremes._  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Glee is property of Ryan Murphy Television and 20th Century Fox. All characters, places, and recognizable names herein have been borrowed for the use of this fanfiction. Title from "XO" by Fall Out Boy. This story is a work of fiction and is in no way affiliated with the aforementioned groups. No infringement intended.  
><strong>AN: **AU Quinn has always gone to Carmel school district, so none of her storyline from Glee applies. This takes place during the same year as season 1 of Glee, so just assume spoilers for all episodes. On the WMHS side of things, there will be an OC who will replace Quinn and take over her whole plot. Assume that everything follows cannon over there unless otherwise mentioned in the story. As far as Vocal Adrenalin goes, I'll be mentioning some real characters and some OC characters, so don't get confused there. If anything is unclear, just ask and I'll try my best to Windex that shit. Unbeta'd; all mistakes are my own.  
><strong>Warnings:<strong> This story deals with issues of alcoholism, abuse of prescription medication, neglect, minor instances of child abuse, student/teacher relationships, sexual relations with a minor, and of course femslash. Now, as far as I know, the legal age of consent in Ohio is 16, but it's still pretty taboo; we're talking about a relationship between a sixteen-year-old and a woman in her mid thirties, so. If any of that stuff is a bother to you, I would suggest finding something else to read. Also, angst. So, that being said, please enjoy.

* * *

><p>It turns out that Shelby lives in a relatively upscale apartment complex. She leads Quinn up two flights of stairs and several feet down a hallway with a plush beige carpet, stopping at door number 219. She walks in without pretense, and Quinn takes exactly one step inside the doorway before stopping. She stays rooted to the spot while Shelby goes about hanging up her jacket and throwing her keys on the table.<p>

"It's okay to come in, you know," Shelby tells her wryly, half smirking. "I promise I don't bite. Also, I'm not going to interrogate you."

Quinn relaxes just slightly at that and takes a few more steps into the living room. Shelby's apartment is somewhat sparse, and Quinn knows that she doesn't spend a lot of time here. There are a few pictures scattered about, mostly from younger years. The glory years, Quinn assumes. There is an immaculate CD collection, as well as special-edition DVDs for every single musical ever filmed. There aren't any real decorations, other than loosely scattered pieces of sheet music and notebook paper with illegible scribbling all over them.

"Are you hungry at all?" Quinn shakes her head. She should be hungry, but the nausea in her stomach is too overpowering right now. "Okay, well how about I show you to the guest room. You look like you could use a little rest."

Quinn does not want sleep, doesn't think she could sleep if she took a handful of Ambien, but she agrees to that because at least it means she won't have to sit around in Shelby's living room all day in awkward silence, always running the risk that Shelby is going to make her talk about things that she doesn't want to talk about. Shelby leads her down the hall and into a spare bedroom that is just as sparse as the rest of the place. The bed looks like it's never even been slept in before. The pillows are still as plump as the day they were bought.

"Okay. So the bathroom is right across the hall, and if you need anything I'll just be around," Shelby tells her. Quinn nods and the two of them stand there, not saying anything and not really looking at each other either. She realizes that this must be just as weird for Shelby as it is for her. Aside from Jesse, Shelby doesn't really have close personal relationships with her students, and she's probably never invited any of them to her apartment before, especially under such grave circumstances. When Shelby turns to leave, Quinn finally speaks up.

"Ms. Corcoran?" She spins around and looks at Quinn almost hopefully. "Thank you," Quinn says quietly. Shelby smiles, and it's the most gentle expression Quinn has ever seen on her face, before she leaves, shutting the door behind her.

At this point, Quinn is kind of at a loss for what to do with herself, so she settles on sitting on the bed. She sits there on the very edge like she's afraid she's not supposed to be there before she finally realizes that she's being ridiculous and settles back against the pillows. She doesn't even realize she's falling asleep until the sound of her phone ringing makes her jolt out of bed several hours later.

"Hey there, Quinnster!"

"Dustin," she breathes. Just the sound of his voice is enough to make her want to cry with relief. He is her link to a world that is completely free of all these insane troubles of the past two days.

"Whatcha up to? I haven't heard from you like all day," he says curiously. There is a slight hint of worry in his voice.

"Yeah, I've, um… I've been kind of busy. I'm not feeling so well today and I've really been trying to work on chemistry and get some rest." Quinn hates lying to him, but she just can't get into the details of it all right now. She'll probably crack into a million pieces if she has to even imagine his reaction to this whole situation.

"Aw man, why didn't you tell me? I would've come over to look after you," he says, voice laced with concern.

"I don't want you getting sick. It's probably just the 48-hour flu or something. I'm sure I'll be fine come Monday." The lies come easier the more she tells them.

There's a knock on the door just as she hangs up, and then Shelby pokes her head in. Once she sees that Quinn is awake, she walks in holding a sandwich and a glass of water.

"I thought you might be hungry after your nap," she explains, smiling gently. Quinn looks at the time on her phone and realizes she's been sleeping for over four hours. She rubs the sleep out of her eyes and groans quietly.

"I'm really sorry. I can't believe I slept that long," she says.

"Don't be sorry; you looked like you needed it," Shelby replies, setting the food on the nightstand. She sits gingerly on the bed next to Quinn. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay," she says immediately. Shelby smirks wryly. Quinn blows out a breath and looks away. "I don't know. I don't what to say. I don't know what to think. I just…" She shakes her head and looks back to Shelby, hoping that her coach will have some sort of answer for her. Shelby doesn't appear to have a definite solution to anything.

"Well, how's your eye?" Shelby asks finally. Quinn shrugs.

"It hurts a little." She runs her fingers carefully over the knot under her eye, winces when it stings.

They sit in silence for a while. Quinn's not sure what to say. She doesn't think she can sit here all day awkwardly avoiding the subject of her mother with Shelby. She doesn't want to go home, either; doesn't think she's quite ready to face Judy after last night. At the moment, Quinn Fabray belongs nowhere, and it makes her feel incredibly helpless.

"Look, why don't you eat something at least," Shelby suggests, like she's reading Quinn's mind or something. "We'll go from there. One step at a time, just like practice, okay?"

Quinn agrees to that once she's had a chance to freshen up in the bathroom. She catches a glimpse of herself in the mirror for the first time since school yesterday as she walks past. Shelby's right: she looks awful. Her skin has a chalky pallor; her hair is an absolute tangled mess; her eyes are sunken in like she hasn't slept in days. And then there's that bruise.

Quinn wonders how it is that when a guy gets all bloodied and bruised he looks rugged and Fight Club-ish, but when a girl has a black eye or a split lip, she looks weak and helpless. She thinks that anyone who sees her is going to immediately think she's the victim of some abusive boyfriend or drunken father figure. She almost laughs at the irony of it.

The sandwich is average, but she inhales it like it's a fillet mignon. It's been quite a long time since she's eaten, and it seems the hunger has finally overcome the twisting in her stomach. When she's finished, she takes her plate and glass and ventures out into the living room. Shelby is there on the couch with her feet tucked under her, wearing a pair of black square-framed glasses as she reads a book that has the words "_SHOW CHOIR_" in the title. She looks up as the floor creaks under Quinn's feet.

"Hey," she says, marking her place in the book with the jacket and setting it on the table.

"Hey," Quinn repeats. After a few seconds of standing there holding the dishes and not knowing what to do, she asks, "Where should I put these?"

"You can stick them in the dishwasher," Shelby replies and Quinn is incredibly thankful that she didn't offer to take them for her, because she needs something to busy herself with rather than standing around like a lost puppy. While she's putting the dishes away, she makes up her mind to ask Shelby to take her back home, because really this whole situation has just gotten out of hand. It's not like she can stay here forever; she has to go back sometime, so she might as well do it sooner rather than later.

Shelby appears to be lost in thought when Quinn returns. She's chewing on the end of her glasses arm idly as she stares off in the direction of her DVD collection. Quinn wonders if she's contemplating what her next purchase is going to be or if she's just staring off into space. She clears her throat tentatively, because it feels dry all of a sudden.

"Ms. Corcoran?" Shelby's eyebrows raise and her eyes refocus and she turns her head to look at Quinn expectantly. "I just wanted to say… I mean, I really appreciate you, um, taking care of me and all, but I was thinking that maybe I should get back home. My mom's probably wondering where I am, and I could really use a shower and a change of clothes."

Shelby's lips form a thin line and she nods slowly. "Right. I was thinking about that, too. I have to say, I would feel better if you stayed here though, at least for tonight. Give everyone a chance to just… think things through." Quinn looked like she didn't like that idea very much. "I know you probably think this is unnecessary, that I'm making a big deal out of nothing. I know you, Quinn. You like to believe that you can handle yourself in any situation. You keep a lot of things to yourself and you never want to ask for help, but you have to see this from my point of view. I found you sleeping in the school auditorium on a weekend with a black eye that came from your _mother_. That's not okay, Quinn."

Quinn casts her eyes down to the floor and swallows thickly. "I know," she says quietly.

And she does. She knows how utterly fucked this situation, this _life_ of hers has become. How sad it is that a sixteen-year-old girl has to take care of her addict mother, who barely has a combined total of two hours of lucidity per day. How heartbreaking it is that she lives off of microwave dinners while her mom eats more pills than food and drinks more liquor than a frat boy during rush week. How ridiculous it is that she's never known her father, doesn't know what he looks like or even what his name is. How bullshit it is that she has the best friend a girl could ask for, a boy who's willing to do anything and everything for her, who loves her unconditionally, and who she can't even manage to love back because she's so fucked up from everything else in her life.

"Stay for tonight," Shelby offers, her voice soft and sympathetic. "You can decide what you want to do in the morning."

Quinn nods because, really, Shelby is only offering what she's wished for almost her entire life: a day away from the quiet, soul-shattering chaos of her life.

xx

Shelby attempts at conversation to ease Quinn's mind on the car ride over. "So, you and Dustin seem pretty close."

"Yeah," Quinn agrees. "We've been best friends since seventh grade."

"Just friends, huh?" Shelby asks, a teasing note to her voice.

"Yeah," she says again.

"Anyone else you're interested in?" Shelby prods.

Quinn raises an eyebrow at her. "Ms. Corcoran, are we really going to talk about my love life right now?"

Shelby frowns slightly. "No, I guess not. Sorry, I lack conversational skills that don't include references to show choir and high school literature," she says sheepishly.

"It's okay," Quinn assures her, staring out the window as she watches the distance between Shelby's apartment and her house disappear. "I lack social skills period."

Whether it's because she doesn't know what to say or because she doesn't care to, Shelby doesn't respond. Instead she says, "Call me Shelby, by the way. Using formalities outside of school makes me feel like we're in an awful rendition of_Boy Meets World_."

Shelby comes with her once they get to the house, and Quinn doesn't argue because she's too busy sweating and worrying about what's going to meet her on the other side of the door. She sucks in a breath of air and considers just turning back around, but that option doesn't seem very plausible. She catches Shelby's eye and is unexpectedly comforted; for whatever reason, Shelby is with her on this. She opens the door.

Everything is the same. It's as if she simply spent the night at a friend's house after a pleasant evening at home rather than in the school auditorium after having a blowout with her mother. Quinn approaches the living room carefully like she's afraid something might jump out and attack her. It is silent and she can feel Shelby tense and waiting behind her. She rounds the couch, like an awful recurring dream, Judy Fabray lying on the couch fast asleep, a fifth of vodka clutched to her chest like a teddy bear.

Quinn feels everything that's good in the world come crashing down around her, ceasing to exist. _What did you expect?_she asks herself angrily, fighting against the clench in her throat and the burn in her eyes. _Police? Search dogs? A frantically sober Judy Fabray and an episode of _Without A Trace_?_ She turns to look at Shelby, who looks completely disgusted by the sight in front of her and like she may be contemplating murder. Shelby's eyes shift to look at Quinn; she can see the hurt in them as clearly as if she was a kicked puppy, and anger boils inside of her. She doesn't even know what to say.

"Can I stay with you for a little while?" Quinn asks very quietly, her voice cracking the tiniest bit despite all her efforts to keep it steady.

"Of course, honey," Shelby replies immediately. She wraps an arm around Quinn's shoulders. "Come on; let's go get your stuff."

Shelby knows that she's going about this the wrong way. She knows that she should be calling a social worker, the principal of the school, the police; she should be waking Judy's drunk ass up and telling her how despicable she is for doing this to such a beautiful, talented, intelligent young girl as Quinn. She also knows that Quinn would never forgive her if she did all of that, and so she doesn't. She simply follows Quinn to her bedroom and helps her pack a duffle bag full of clothing and other various necessities.

They nearly make it out without confrontation. Quinn's bag accidentally swings into the arm of the couch, and Judy suddenly stirs from her coma like she'd only been snoozing lightly for the past five minutes.

"Quinnie?" she croaks, and Quinn stops dead in her tracks, jaw clenching so tightly she feels her teeth might crack under the pressure. Just when she thinks that things can't possibly get any worse, they always do. "Quinnie, you're back."

She turns very slowly to face her mother and nods. "Yeah, Mom, I'm back. But I'm not staying." Judy merely presents her with a hazy frown and Quinn tosses her hand vaguely in the direction of Shelby, who is just as tense as she is. "This is Shelby, Mom, my Vocal Adrenalin coach. I'm going to stay with her for a little while."

It isn't a question, and all three of them know it. Judy looks for just a moment as though she may protest, but she sees the bruise on Quinn's cheek; glances at Shelby and sees the challenge there, and realizes that there's no point. Shelby has seen the whole situation now and could easily turn her in for a number of things. Judy knows which battles are worth fighting, and this is not one of them. She considers what her life has become for a split second before the dizzy haze clouds her mind again.

"Okay," she nods, and doesn't miss it when she sees Quinn's heart break behind those hazel eyes. Yes, she should have fought harder, but the time for fighting is long past now. The only thing she can do now is hope that someone else, maybe this Shelby woman, can save Quinn from her own mother.

Shelby nods imperceptibly, indicating that Judy made the right choice, and then leads Quinn out of the house. Judy listens for a long time after she hears the car start up and drive away.

Quinn doesn't say a word the entire way back to Shelby's, nor does she show a hint of emotion until she drags her things into the spare bedroom, shuts the door, and sits on the bed. After several seconds, bursts into tears, sobbing and pitiful, and loud enough for Shelby to hear as she leans helplessly against the bedroom door.


	5. Chapter 5

**Title:**Kiss and Tell (Loose Lips Sink Ships)  
><strong>Author:<strong>texaswatermelon  
><strong>Fandom:<strong> Glee  
><strong>Pairing:<strong> Quinn/Shelby, eventual Quinn/Brittany, eventual Rachel/Santana  
><strong>Rating:<strong> R, for language and possible adult situations  
><strong>Summary:<strong> _Most people in Vocal Adrenaline tend to feel one of two ways about Shelby Corcoran: they either loathe her with all the fire of a thousand of Carmel High's stage lights, or they possess some amount of sickening admiration for her. Quinn is really a mix of these two extremes._  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Glee is property of Ryan Murphy Television and 20th Century Fox. All characters, places, and recognizable names herein have been borrowed for the use of this fanfiction. Title from "XO" by Fall Out Boy. This story is a work of fiction and is in no way affiliated with the aforementioned groups. No infringement intended.  
><strong>AN:**AU Quinn has always gone to Carmel school district, so none of her storyline from Glee applies. This takes place during the same year as season 1 of Glee, so just assume spoilers for all episodes. On the WMHS side of things, there will be an OC who will replace Quinn and take over her whole plot. Assume that everything follows cannon over there unless otherwise mentioned in the story. As far as Vocal Adrenalin goes, I'll be mentioning some real characters and some OC characters, so don't get confused there. If anything is unclear, just ask and I'll try my best to Windex that shit. Unbeta'd; all mistakes are my own.  
><strong>Warnings:<strong> This story deals with issues of alcoholism, abuse of prescription medication, neglect, minor instances of child abuse, student/teacher relationships, sexual relations with a minor, and of course femslash. Now, as far as I know, the legal age of consent in Ohio is 16, but it's still pretty taboo; we're talking about a relationship between a sixteen-year-old and a woman in her mid thirties, so. If any of that stuff is a bother to you, I would suggest finding something else to read. Also, angst. So, that being said, please enjoy.

* * *

><p>It's nearly noon by the time Quinn finally wakes the next day. There's that momentary feeling of confusion at waking up in a bed that is not her own before she remembers everything that occurred. Her eyes are puffy and sore and she feels like she's been run over by a Mac truck. She decides that a shower might make her feel better.<p>

Shelby is in the same position as she was yesterday when Quinn woke up, only now she's pouring over a stack of sheet music that she has spread all across the coffee table. Her hair is thrown in a haphazard bun that's held together with a pencil and she's got a pen cap sticking out of her mouth while she marks something on the papers with the actual pen. Her concentration is such that she doesn't notice Quinn lurking just at the edge of the hallway, and Quinn is somehow content to just watch her for a few moments. She never really thought about it before, maybe because she usually wants to kill Shelby most of the time for the hell that she puts them through during practice, but her coach is kind of beautiful.

Almost as if she hears the though swirl its way through Quinn's brain, Shelby looks up and her eyes brighten sincerely.

"Good morning," she says cheerfully, the pen cap falling out of her mouth and hitting the carpet noiselessly.

"More like afternoon," Quinn says sheepishly, scratching the back of her scalp, which is starting to itch due to lack of cleanliness. It's kind of grossing her out.

Shelby shrugs. "Technicalities," she says with a smile. "How are you feeling?"

Quinn is getting a strange sense of déjà vu now, and she sincerely hopes that Shelby won't feel the need to ask her this_every_ morning she wakes up here. She doesn't want to have to be asked how she's doing or how she's feeling or how she's holding up every five minutes like some kind of trauma patient. She'd like to think she's not _that_ pathetic.

"Kind of the same as yesterday," she replies. Then, after a thought, "Actually worse, I guess." She figures there's no sense in lying. Shelby will know the truth regardless.

Shelby's mouth stretches into a thin line and her eyes crinkle at the edges; it's the same look she gets when she's trying to figure out how to fix a number that just isn't clicking for her. Only this isn't some routine for show choir, and Shelby doesn't know how to fix a broken girl.

"I wish I knew what to say," she starts, trailing off helplessly at the end. Quinn smiles faintly.

"It's okay," she says. "It's enough that you're letting me stay."

"Of course," Shelby replies immediately. "You're always welcome here, Quinn, no matter what the circumstances."

And Quinn appreciates that because there are very few places in the world where Quinn feels that this is true, and having Shelby behind her feels like having something really sturdy to lean on for the first time in a very long while.

After a few moments, Shelby seems to remember that Quinn is a growing girl and gets up from her spot on the couch quickly, moving towards the kitchen with her empty coffee cup. "Did you need something to eat, or drink or anything like that? Don't hesitate to ask."

"Actually, I was kind of hoping for a shower," is Quinn's reply, following Shelby at a distance.

"Right, yes," Shelby mutters with something that Quinn thinks is nervousness, but can't quite believe because, come on, it's _Shelby_. What would she have to be nervous about? But then she thinks that probably Shelby's never had to deal with having a child in her house and probably isn't quite sure about what she should be doing. Quinn suddenly feels bad for being here, for making Shelby feel uncomfortable in her own home, but she shrugs it off when she realizes that Shelby is in front of her suddenly, holding out a folded towel.

"Thanks," Quinn says gratefully, with a smile that she hopes tells Shelby that she really appreciates all of this and that she doesn't want her to worry so much. She thinks that Shelby gets it, because her shoulders relax and she smiles back and nods.

"Feel free to use whatever you need, okay?" she says, squeezing Quinn's arm lightly. It's one of those things that people do when they're pitying someone, but it's Shelby's way of comforting her, letting her know that she's there for her. Quinn takes a little bit of strength from it and smiles once more before heading off to the bathroom.

xx

The shower feels like a cleansing of more than just the dirt from her body. She feels lighter afterwards, like maybe she can survive all of this without being completely scarred. Her eye is still a mess, but she brought some concealer with so she won't look like a total tragedy when she goes to school on Monday. Maybe this won't be so bad.

She emerges from the bathroom wrapped in nothing but a towel and almost runs headlong into Shelby, who is on her way back from her own bedroom. The sudden backtracking to keep from colliding with her coach causes Quinn to lose her balance. Luckily, Shelby has quick reflexes and reaches out with both hands, grabbing Quinn by the shoulders to steady her. Quinn responds in kind by gripping Shelby's arms as well. For a few moments, they stand there staring at each other. Quinn's heart is pounding from the unexpected encounter and the almost falling on her ass and her breath comes irregular and heavy. It draws Shelby's gaze to her chest, which is turning an unseemly shade of splotchy red from embarrassment, and then to the places where the tendrils of Quinn's wet hair are slowly letting tracks of water slip down her skin. Intent brown eyes follow the slow drops as they trail their way down delicate shoulders and make erratic turns over the swells of Quinn's breasts until they disappear into the depths covered by the towel.

It's only a moment, over almost as soon as it's begun, but it leaves them both shell-shocked. Quinn doesn't even hear Shelby's muttered apologies as her coach retreats back to the living room. The look in Shelby's eyes leaves her rooted in place, her breath heavy and her cheeks painted red for an entirely different reason now. She takes a deep breath and shakes her head before hurrying into the spare room and shutting the door behind her.

She takes an unnecessary amount of time to get dressed in a pair of sweats and an old t-shirt and throw her wet hair into a ponytail. There is a text from Dustin waiting for her, asking her how she's feeling. Quinn feels a pang of guilt as she remembers her earlier lies and sends as cheery a reply as she can manage telling him that she's feeling much better and everything should be a go for tomorrow. He responds immediately.

_Awesome! I'll see you tomorrow then :D_

Quinn smiles involuntarily at his text, wishing more than anything that he was with her now. After several more minutes of letting her thoughts wander (but not to the hallway incident), Quinn decides that she might as well use her Sunday to do the homework that she hasn't done yet, including some readings for Shelby's literature class. She grabs her book bag and takes it out into the living room.

Shelby is doing her own homework now, grading papers for another one of her classes. Her eyes dart up to meet Quinn's and then quickly drop back to the paper in front of her. Quinn diverts her gaze as well, scratching the back of her head nervously.

"Homework?" Shelby asks unnecessarily, keeping her eyes down.

"Yeah," Quinn says a little too quickly, and the sound of her own voice makes her wince. "I'll just… be in the kitchen."

Shelby looks up only to nod at her and then returns to her work. Quinn shuffles into the kitchen and takes a seat at the small table there. She decides to start on Shelby's assignment first, since it'll probably take the longest, and thinks that at least living with Shelby will have its perks if she ever has trouble understanding Shakespeare or something. _If_ they can get past the sudden awkwardness that has sprung up between them. Quinn shakes that thought from her head and buries herself in _Billy Budd_.

xx

Sometime later, Quinn isn't sure how long, Shelby enters the kitchen. Quinn hasn't finished reading the story yet because she's only been half focusing on the dense text, allowing her mind to wander to other topics instead.

"How's Herman treating you?" Shelby asks, glancing down at Quinn's textbook.

Quinn frowns, noticing that she's only gotten through ten pages so far. "Poorly."

"He's not the nicest of fellows," Shelby agrees. When she looks at Quinn, there is no trace of the earlier awkwardness that plagued them, and Quinn is relieved that Shelby seems to have either forgotten about the whole thing or decided not to acknowledge it anymore. "You must be hungry. And don't try to tell me you're not, Fabray. You haven't eaten all day."

Quinn doesn't argue. "I am hungry."

"Good," Shelby says, satisfied. "Well, I won't pretend that I can cook, but I can order a mean takeout." She points to the refrigerator where there are several menus pinned across the front with magnets. Quinn grins and nods.

"I'm familiar with takeout," she replies.

"Pizza?" Shelby offers, and Quinn nods her assent. "What kind?"

"I don't really care, as long as there's bacon."

Shelby chuckles and starts dialing the number from her cell phone. "I think you and I will get along just fine then."

Twenty minutes later, the delivery boy is at their door with a bacon and cheese pizza. He lingers in front of Shelby even after she's tipped him, and when she finally raises her eyebrow at him, he pulls out a Sharpie and scribbles his number across her pizza box.

"Slick," Shelby deadpans, but the guy just flashes a grin and leaves. Quinn's eyes are full of mirth when she turns around and Shelby shakes her head. "I'm sure I'm old enough to be his mom."

"Some guys like that," Quinn replies. "A lot of guys, actually."

"Yeah, well I'd like to be with someone who hasn't got the emotional range of a worker bee," Shelby says, rolling her eyes.

Quinn giggles and takes the box from Shelby, setting it on the table. "I don't think age has anything to do with that," she says, thinking of Dustin, who is more sensitive than most adults she's ever met.

When Shelby is silent after that, Quinn looks up questioningly, only to find her coach looking at her with a soft smile.

"What?" Quinn asks nervously.

"I don't think I've ever heard you laugh before," is Shelby's reply. Quinn feels herself blushing furiously at this, but then Shelby is handing her a paper plate out of the pizza box and it's as if nothing ever happened.

It isn't as weird as she thought it might be, having dinner with Shelby. Her coach chats with her, mostly about Vocal Adrenalin and her plans for them. Sometimes she'll tell Quinn a story about a routine gone horribly wrong or something, and in general it's a pretty pleasant experience. After a while, they lapse into a silence which both of them are perfectly comfortable with. It's when Shelby is about to clear the table and get back to her papers that Quinn finally breaks the silence again.

"She wasn't always like this," the girl says out of the blue, and it's so soft that Shelby isn't sure if she heard it at all. But Quinn's eyes are glued to the table in front of her and she's fidgeting with her napkin, ripping into tiny pieces, and Shelby knows that whatever Quinn's trying to tell her needs to be heard.

"What do you mean, Quinn?" she prods gently. Quinn finally glances up at her, hazel eyes full of uncertainty, and swallows loudly.

"My mom," she says quietly. "She wasn't always so…"

Shelby nods her understanding at the struggle for words and Quinn sighs in relief at not having to put a name to the ruination of her life. Shelby doesn't push her for more information, and Quinn is thankful for that, too. For some reason she can't figure, she feels the need to explain this to Shelby. Maybe it's because she's been kind enough to go through all of this trouble for Quinn, or maybe it's because there is finally someone here who knows her situation and who she trusts enough to tell the full story to. Someone other than Dustin, that is, who can maybe help her figure out why her life is such shit.

"I can remember," Quinn continues, though her throat is thick with fear and emotion, "when I was younger, things used to be fine. I never had a dad, but it didn't really matter because my mom was always enough. She had a decent job as a manager at a restaurant and she would help me with homework and school projects and whenever she had off, we would go do something fun, just the two of us."

She stops for a moment, eyes clouded with memories of better times, clearly fighting off tears. Shelby feels her heart break for this girl, not for the first time.

"One day at work, one of the light fixtures came out of the ceiling and fell on her. I guess the ceiling was weakened by leaking and the owner knew about it, but hadn't done anything. My mom was almost paralyzed by the accident. She had a couple of slipped disks and a bunch of broken vertebrae, and there wasn't a whole lot the doctors could do. She wouldn't be able to work anymore because she can't stand up for more than an hour without being in pain and she can't lift anything. She can barely even sit up. There was a really big settlement from the insurance company; enough for us to live on pretty much forever. The doctor prescribed pills for the pain, but my mom just got… lost. She was depressed all the time and she started taking more and more pills and drinking to forget about it all. I tried to help her; I stayed home all the time in case she needed anything, but nothing I did was ever as good as what the pills and the alcohol could do for her. Eventually, I just stopped trying. I started getting involved in clubs after school and going to Dustin's to do my homework so I wouldn't have to be at home as much. That's why Vocal Adrenalin is so important to me. At least if I'm there, I don't have to feel guilty for not being able to help my mom."

Shelby doesn't notice the tears forming in her eyes until one of them escapes, slipping down her cheek. She ignores it, staring at Quinn as the girl plays with the pieces of her napkin, refusing to look Shelby in the eye.

"Quinn, look at me," Shelby orders, swiping at her eyes. Quinn obeys, raising her head slowly to meet Shelby's watery gaze. "What happened to your mom is not your fault."

"I know," Quinn replies immediately. "It was the restaurant owner—"

"I'm not talking about that," Shelby interrupts. Quinn furrows her brown in confusion and Shelby takes a deep breath. "What happened to your mom after the accident, what she let herself become… that wasn't your fault. Nothing that you could have said or done—no matter how many hours you spent by her side— would have made any difference. She chose to medicate her problems rather than deal with them. No one can blame you for wanting to get away from all of that."

Quinn shakes her head and looks at Shelby sadly. "I can."

Shelby sighs. There isn't much she can say to change Quinn's mind about that. Sometimes people feel guilt regardless of whether or not they should. Shelby feels much the same way about her own past; about the child that she'd had and given to two loving fathers. Shelby knows that the baby had been given a wonderful life, one that she herself could never have given and didn't want to even try at that time. But sometimes, when she thinks about her little girl—her Rachel—which she does quite frequently these days, she can't help but wonder if that girl is thinking about her, and missing the mom she's never had.

"Shelby?"

Quinn's voice snaps her out of her reverie and Shelby sighs again. She gets up from her seat and walks around the table to where Quinn is sitting, bending over and placing her hand on Quinn's cheek, forcing the girl to look her in the eye.

"I know I can't stop you for feeling guilty about everything that's happened, but please at least promise me that from now on you'll live your life for you, and no one else," she says seriously.

Quinn's eyes sparkle full of emotion as she nods, placing her hand on top of Shelby's for reassurance. "Thank you," she whispers, and Shelby just smiles, happy to know that she can be there for someone if not her own daughter.

"Alright, I have to finish grading papers," she says, crinkling her nose in distaste. Quinn chuckles.

"I should finish my homework, too."

Shelby nods and turns for the living room, sharing one last look with Quinn before leaving for good.

xx

Quinn doesn't sleep well. She tosses and turns, worrying about what people are going to say when they see her eye; when word gets around that she came in with Shelby this morning rather than Dustin. She remembers that Dustin will be at her house to pick her up and sends him a quick text telling him not to bother and promising to explain later. She thinks of her teachers and wonders how many of them are going to demand explanations of her. She thinks about Andrea Cohen and all of the rumors she's going to spread; about Dustin and his hurt, worried expression when he finds out she didn't come to him; about Jesse and his prying eyes. In the end, she gives up on sleep.

Shelby finds her sitting on the couch reading her Show Choir Handbook when she ambles out sleepily at 5:30. The sight of Quinn sitting there with dark circles under her non-swollen eye is worrying enough to make her pre-coffee brain alert. Quinn looks up at her sheepishly and shrugs at Shelby's raised eyebrow.

"I couldn't sleep," she says simply, then, "I made coffee," as though it's some sort of peace offering. Shelby's nose confirms this statement and she decides to have some before trying to help Quinn sort out whatever's bothering her. When she's satisfied with the amount of caffeine in her system, she curls up on the opposite end of the couch from Quinn.

"So, what's up?" she asks.

Quinn shakes her head. "It's nothing."

Shelby looks at her skeptically and takes a sip of her coffee.

"Are you worried about dealing with everyone today?" Quinn looks displeased at having been so easily decoded, but nods anyway. "Well, I've been thinking about how we're going to handle this. We're going to have to tell Principal Elliott that you're staying with me. I know you don't really want to tell anyone about any of it, but she needs to know at least that you've decided to stay here for a while, and she'll probably want to get confirmation of consent from your mother. I'll have her talk to your other teachers and tell them not to ask questions, if you'd like."

"Please," Quinn replies uneasily, nodding vehemently.

Shelby sighs when she sees that Quinn's fears have clearly not been allayed. "You worried about the other students, too? About your eye?"

"Mostly just two people," Quinn admits, looking down at the floor. "I haven't told Dustin anything yet. He's going to be upset when he finds out I lied to him; that I didn't go to him for help."

"He cares about you. He'll get over it and then he'll just be focused on trying to make it better for you," Shelby assures her. "Who else?"

"What?" Quinn asks, hoping against hope that Shelby doesn't force this one out of her.

"Who's the other person that you're worried about?" Shelby reiterates.

"Just people in general," Quinn replies, and it's clear that Shelby is not convinced, but at Quinn's pleading look, she doesn't prod. She has a feeling she already knows anyway.

"It probably won't be easy," Shelby says finally, "but I know you can handle yourself. You'll get through it, and every day will be easier."

Quinn can only hope that it's true.

xx

They meet with the principal as soon as they get to school. It's possibly one of the scariest moments of Quinn's life. She's never been to the principal's office for anything, and she feels like she's being scrutinized every second, searched for clues to a crime she didn't commit. Even though Shelby is behind her the entire time with a hand on her shoulder, pretty much taking the reins of the entire conversation, Quinn still feels uncomfortable. Principal Elliott doesn't ask about Quinn's eye, but Quinn catches her staring at it from time to time, and given Shelby's carefully guarded explanation of the situation, it shouldn't be hard for her to figure out where the bruise came from. Eventually she agrees that Quinn can stay Shelby if she wants, and if they can get in touch with Judy Fabray to confirm the arrangement. Quinn is both shaken and relieved by the whole ordeal.

Being a teacher, Shelby arrives at school about an hour before any of the students do. Quinn sits in the classroom with her and doodles absently on a piece of paper while Shelby prepares for her classes. She apologizes for Quinn's boredom, but Quinn just shrugs and offers her a smile to say that she doesn't really mind.

Once the students start arriving, Quinn bids Shelby goodbye and heads off to her homeroom, where she sits fidgeting nervously as she waits for Dustin to arrive. He practically runs over to her when he finally sees her, eyes full of concern. When he sees the poorly concealed bruise under her eye, he nearly explodes.

"What the hell happened, Quinn?" he practically shouts, and Quinn gives him a warning look to be quiet, because she really doesn't want the rest of her homeroom listening in on this conversation.

"It's a long story," she says quietly, and when he opens his mouth to protest, she cuts him off, "and I _promise_ I'll explain it to you. Just not here, okay?" When he doesn't look like he's going to drop it, she adds a pained _please_ and he finally shuts his mouth. "How was your weekend?"

"I was worried about _you_," he replies pointedly, and Quinn knows she deserves the response.

They spend the rest of homeroom in silence, which Quinn hates, but it's better than the thousands of questions she knows she'll have to field when she finally tells him the full story. She catches Dustin staring at her several times, most likely at her eye, but she ignores him for now. When the bell for first period rings, Quinn shoots out of her seat and walks to class as quickly as she can.

At lunch she makes him sit with her at a table far away from prying ears.

"I had a fight with my mom," she says in a rush after sitting in silence for several minutes. Dustin's eyes nearly bulge out of his head and Quinn hurries to continue before he can properly flip out. "I dumped her pills and bottles down the kitchen sink, and when she tried to stop me I yelled at her and threw the last bottle at the wall and she hit me. I don't think she really meant to do it."

"Quinn, that doesn't matter," Dustin says angrily, and Quinn is getting annoyed by his ire.

"I know that, Dustin!" she snaps. "I left that night and came here through the backstage door. I fell asleep in the auditorium. I was just going to spend the night away so I could think and then go back and try to sort things out with Mom, but Shelby came in while I was still sleeping and found me. She made me go to her place for the weekend until she could figure out what to do about it, but…"

"What?" he prods at her sudden silence and Quinn sighs tiredly.

"When we went back to the house to get some of my things for the weekend, it… it was like nothing had even happened. Mom was passed out on the couch with a brand new bottle next to her. I couldn't handle it, knowing that after everything that happened, she still didn't care. So I asked Shelby if I could stay with her for a little longer."

"How long?" is Dustin's next question. Quinn shakes her head.

"I don't know. Maybe for good, if she'll let me. I'm not going back there, Dustin. Not until she stops," Quinn tells him, and the decision is written in her eyes.

They're silent for a while as Dustin lets everything sink in. Finally, he sighs and his previous anger deflates, leaving him sad and worried.

"Why didn't you come to me, Quinn? You know I would have helped you. I would do anything for you," he says softly.

Quinn's face is sad as she reaches across the table and takes his hand. "I know. I know you would. But I was just, I don't know, confused and upset and I didn't want to worry you and I was afraid your parents would call, like, Social Services or something and I didn't want that." Dustin still doesn't look satisfied at the explanation. "Believe me, Dustin; I know I can come to you for anything, but… some things are just bigger than us."

Dustin nods, because he kind of understands, even if he doesn't like it.

"Well, are you alright?" he asks finally. Quinn shrugs with a tired smile.

"As alright as I can be, I guess," she replies. "Shelby's been really good to me."

"I can't believe you're living with her," Dustin says with awe in his voice. "Is it totally weird?"

"A little," Quinn laughs. "But it's nice."

xx

By the time they get to English lit, everything is normal between them again. In fact, Quinn looks relatively happy considering her earlier distress. Shelby is somewhat surprised by this, but not unhappy. She and Dustin arrive at the classroom laughing about something. When they pass by Shelby's desk, Quinn offers her a wide smile, eyes bright and beautiful.

"Hey, Ms. C," Dustin greets her as usual, but this time there's a look of appreciation she's never seen. Quinn's greeting isn't far behind.

"Hi, Ms. Corcoran," she says simply, and Shelby smiles at her because Quinn's smile is infectious.

"You guys look cheery today," Shelby comments, more so to Quinn than Dustin, but she feels she has him to thank for this sudden turnabout in Quinn's mood.

"We're glee kids," Dustin says, as though this explains everything. "We're _glee_ful."

Quinn bursts out laughing at his idiotic joke and Shelby chuckles in amazement.

"Well as long as you guys bring your glee to practice, it should be a good day," she says, and the two of them nod eagerly before sitting down for the start of class.

xx

It all goes to hell during glee.

During one of their sunscreen breaks, Dustin's story about some kid in his German class is interrupted by Andrea and her cronies.

"Nice eye, Fabray," she sneers as they pass by. "Trip over one of your mom's bottles?"

She's so focused on Quinn's fallen expression that she nearly runs right into Shelby, who is standing like a statue outside the gates of show choir hell with her hands on her hips and the most terrifyingly pissed off expression Quinn's ever seen.

"What did you say, Cohen?" she demands, loud and clear enough to get everyone's attention. Andrea splutters for an answer, but nothing seems to be able to make its way past her usually overactive vocal chords. Shelby doesn't need one anyway. She heard everything. "Do you think it's funny that Quinn's hurt?"

"No, Ms. Corcoran," Andrea mutters. The three girls that had been with her are now swiftly backing away, eager to let Andrea take the fall.

"You three stay where you are," Shelby barks, and they instantly stop dead in their tracks. Her next announcement is to the entire team. "Somebody tell me when it became acceptable to be mean and insulting to your own teammates, because I know I never gave any indication that any of you had the right to treat each other like crap."

There is only silence as the echoes of her voice die away. She directs her gaze back to Andrea and her crew.

"The four of you are suspended from sectionals," she tells them. Andrea is quickly startled out of her silence.

"Ms. Corcoran, you can't do that!" she exclaims, looking around the auditorium for someone to back her up. No one does.

Shelby's expression is smug. "See what happens when you're rude to everyone, Andrea? No one wants to stick up for you. Now all of you get out of my auditorium. I don't want to see you for the rest of the day. I expect you all to be back here tomorrow, ready for practice and with new and improved attitudes. Go!"

Andrea storms with a huff and the other girls follow her out looking slightly dazed. Shelby's harsh gaze sweeps across the rest of the team.

"The next time I hear anyone trying to tear someone else down, the culprit will be excluded from regionals _and_ nationals," she tells them. Everyone looks at the people around them with wide eyes. "Now finish up and let's get back to work."

In the ensuing movement, Shelby looks over to find Quinn looking like she's trying to become the size of an ant and then be stepped on. When she realizes that Quinn isn't going to look at her, she sighs and heads back to her table.

xx

Quinn is mostly silent on the ride home, and it gets to a point where Shelby can't handle it anymore.

"Listen, I'm sorry if I embarrassed you back there," she says, feeling very much like she has no idea what she's doing.

"It's okay," Quinn replies quietly.

Shelby shakes her head. "There's no reason for her to treat you—anyone—like that. I can't allow that kind of behavior on my team."

"Shelby," Quinn says suddenly, turning to face her for the first time since practice. Shelby stops the car at a red light and looks at Quinn with full attention. "You know you don't have to protect me, right?" Shelby doesn't know what to say to this, so she doesn't say anything. "I really, _really_ appreciate everything you're doing for me, but I'm not made of glass. I've been dealing with Andrea and her friends for almost a year now, and I've had to deal with people and their rumors for a lot longer than that. And while I think Andrea got what she deserved, she's not the only one in Vocal Adrenalin who's ever been mean to someone, and she's certainly not going to be the last, no matter how many people you suspend from competition. I just don't want you to think that you have to guard me from everything now that you know what my life is like. I'm sure there are other kids out there who've had it just as bad, if not worse, than me. If they can handle it, so can I. What you're doing for me is more than enough and I'm really grateful, but you don't have to worry about me so much. I'm going to be okay."

Shelby can only stare at her when she's finished. The light has already turned green and back to red again, but she doesn't notice or care. She wonders how it's possible that someone who's lived so short a life can be so wise. Suddenly, Quinn isn't some poor, broken girl that needs saving. She's a strong, intelligent, beautiful young woman who just needs a helping hand and someone to turn to every once in a while. Shelby finally utters a quiet _okay_ and drives off once the light turns green again. As she's driving, she feels a light hand on her arm. When she glances over, she finds Quinn offering a soft smile and thinks that maybe she really can do this.


	6. Chapter 6

**Title:**Kiss and Tell (Loose Lips Sink Ships)  
><strong>Author:<strong>texaswatermelon  
><strong>Fandom:<strong> Glee  
><strong>Pairing:<strong> Quinn/Shelby, eventual Quinn/Brittany, eventual Rachel/Santana  
><strong>Rating:<strong> R, for language and possible adult situations  
><strong>Summary:<strong> _Most people in Vocal Adrenaline tend to feel one of two ways about Shelby Corcoran: they either loathe her with all the fire of a thousand of Carmel High's stage lights, or they possess some amount of sickening admiration for her. Quinn is really a mix of these two extremes._  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Glee is property of Ryan Murphy Television and 20th Century Fox. All characters, places, and recognizable names herein have been borrowed for the use of this fanfiction. Title from "XO" by Fall Out Boy. This story is a work of fiction and is in no way affiliated with the aforementioned groups. No infringement intended.  
><strong>AN:**AU Quinn has always gone to Carmel school district, so none of her storyline from Glee applies. This takes place during the same year as season 1 of Glee, so just assume spoilers for all episodes. On the WMHS side of things, there will be an OC who will replace Quinn and take over her whole plot. Assume that everything follows cannon over there unless otherwise mentioned in the story. As far as Vocal Adrenalin goes, I'll be mentioning some real characters and some OC characters, so don't get confused there. If anything is unclear, just ask and I'll try my best to Windex that shit. Unbeta'd; all mistakes are my own.  
><strong>Warnings:<strong> This story deals with issues of alcoholism, abuse of prescription medication, neglect, minor instances of child abuse, student/teacher relationships, sexual relations with a minor, and of course femslash. Now, as far as I know, the legal age of consent in Ohio is 16, but it's still pretty taboo; we're talking about a relationship between a sixteen-year-old and a woman in her mid thirties, so. If any of that stuff is a bother to you, I would suggest finding something else to read. Also, angst. So, that being said, please enjoy.

* * *

><p>They fall into a routine. After two weeks, it's as if Quinn has been doing it her whole life. They wake up, usually about half an hour apart, and Quinn will eat a quick bowl of cereal while Shelby finishes getting ready. Then they'll switch, with Shelby taking her second cup of coffee and maybe some toast if she's feeling particularly ambitious while Quinn gets dressed and does a simple hair and makeup detail. At school they go their separate ways until Quinn gets to Shelby's class, at which point Shelby makes small talk with Quinn and Dustin before starting class. After school, they have glee, which Shelby finally shortens considerably since they've got their routine for sectionals pretty much in the bag. Sometimes after glee Quinn will go to Dustin's to hang out, and once he even came to Shelby's and was so awkward and nervous about it that Quinn started teasing him that he has a crush on their coach. Most days, though, they come home and do their own things, occasionally chatting about whatever comes to mind. They end up being much more like friends than either of them ever expected to be.<p>

Quinn still feels guilty sometimes; a lot guiltier than she actually wants to be considering the fact that this is the best her life has been for a very long time. She thinks of Judy Fabray when she has nothing else to do and wonders if anything has changed now that she's no longer there to make sure that her mother eats what little she does or to clean up the vomit when Judy gets in way over her head. She wakes up one night in a cold sweat after having dreamed that Judy overdosed and her body sat there and rotted for weeks because no one was there to check on her or care. Quinn still cares, so she decides that she needs to visit every once in a while just to make sure that everything is the same. She is both saddened and relieved to find that she isn't the type of person who can just quit their own mother cold turkey.

Shelby has mixed feelings about Quinn's request to visit her mother every once in a while. She knows she can't keep Quinn away, doesn't even want to, but she's afraid that Quinn will fall back into old habits of trying to take care of a woman who doesn't deserve her help, and Quinn has been in such a good mood these past two weeks. She decides to make a deal.

"Let me go with you," she says, and at Quinn's look of protest, continues. "Just for the first time or two in case it's too much for you. After that you can take yourself if you still want to go." Quinn agrees, if a little reluctantly.

They go on a Sunday, and Shelby agrees to stay out of the way so that Quinn can interact with her mother without interruption.

Everything is pretty much the same as the last time that Shelby was here, though it's pretty early in the day so Judy doesn't seem to have drunk as much as before. Quinn also seems much less broken up about it this time, and Shelby is grateful because the amount of pain that can be stored in those bright hazel eyes makes her lungs feel like they're about to collapse.

Quinn takes a seat on the coffee table when they arrive while Shelby lingers by the doorway. She reaches out gently to readjust the blanket that's slipping off of Judy's jagged body before pushing a piece of hair behind Judy's ear. Judy looks up at her like she can't believe that Quinn is here; like she believed that Quinn would never return.

"Hi, Mom," Quinn says softly, wrapping her arms around herself loosely.

"Quinnie," is Judy's rough reply. "I missed you."

"Yeah, me too," Quinn admits quietly.

Judy coughs harshly and looks like she might be reaching for the bottle that's sitting on the floor, but Quinn puts a hand out to stop her and she obeys, knowing that her daughter will leave if she takes a drink now. She wants Quinn to stay almost as much as she wants that familiar burn in the back of her throat, so she holds off for now.

"How have you been?" she asks finally.

"Good," Quinn replies, and Judy can tell by the look on her face that it's true. "Really good. Happy."

"And the woman you're staying with…"

"Shelby," Quinn supplies at the memory lapse.

"Right, Shelby. She's taking good care of you?"

Quinn's eyes flick up to meet Shelby's and she smiles genuinely. "Yeah, Mom. She's really great."

"Good," Judy says absently. Her eyes roam Quinn's face for any sign of unhappiness, and Quinn meets her gaze knowingly. Judy thinks with something like wonder that _this_ is what her daughter would have looked like in a different life, if she'd had a mother who was strong enough to protect her during the hard times instead of the opposite. "Your eye looks better. I have nightmares about that night. You know I never meant to hurt you like that."

"I know, Mom," Quinn says easily, and Judy knows she doesn't deserve the forgiveness she sees. "But maybe it's all for the best. Maybe now we can both try to be better."

Judy doesn't know what this perfect angel in front of her could possibly need to be better about, but she knows what Quinn is asking of her, and for the first time in her life, she feels like it might actually be possible.

Quinn gives her a kiss on the cheek and a promise to see her soon and then she leaves. Shelby doesn't ask to accompany her again.

xx

Shelby is late to practice the next day due to a mandatory staff meeting after school. By the time she arrives someone has their iPod hooked up to the sound system and is blasting some song about tail feathers while the kids have a dance off. Shelby has half a mind to yell at them for wasting time until she gets closer to the stage and sees something that makes her jaw drop.

Amazingly, Quinn is at the center of the dance cluster, and the way her body is moving makes Shelby's mouth go dry for reasons she can't explain. Quinn has on a pair of very short shorts today and a form-fitting tee and her legs are pale and incredibly sexy in a way that every boy on the team is shamelessly appreciating. Shelby watches as she saunters up to Jesse and hooks a finger into the collar of his t-shirt before turning around and sliding her body very slowly down his. When she stands back up, she pushes him away and he stumbles back with a look on his face that makes Shelby want to slap him. She does a couple of twirls before ending up in front of Dustin, where she most certainly does shake her tail feather as someone else takes over the spotlight. Shelby continues to stare at Quinn long after she's joined in clapping and watching with the others until she finally regains her senses and tries to whistle loudly, except her mouth is still too dry, so she settles for yelling instead.

It only takes two minutes for the kids to come to order, but Shelby is so distracted afterwards that nothing productive gets done anyway.

xx

Later that week, Shelby is trying to teach them about stage presence.

"It's not a matter of just _being _on stage," she tells them enthusiastically. "You have to own the stage! If the audience takes their eyes off of you even for a second, you've lost them."

Still, for whatever reason, their rehearsal is so lackluster that she finds herself half ready to fall asleep. She realizes that this is one of those things that can only be taught by example, so she tells them to stop before she has to claw her own eyeballs out and climbs up on stage. Without even telling him, the pianist strikes up "Don't Rain On My Parade" and Shelby goes at it.

Quinn watches from the pit as Shelby performs, and she understands very suddenly what Shelby means about owning the stage. Whether it's because Shelby's voice is so powerful and resonating or because she's exuding a kind of energy that Quinn wasn't even aware existed, she cannot physically take her eyes away from her coach. Shelby moves with such grace and her voice is filled with such passion and she looks almost like she's completely forgotten that she's performing in front of a room full of students. To put it simply: she's gorgeous, and Quinn knows she's staring in a way that a student should most definitely _not_ be staring at her teacher. The worst part is that Shelby sees her; her big brown eyes connect with Quinn and there's no mistaking the look of pure attraction that Quinn is sending, and her cheeks heat up at the realization, but she can't manage to tear her eyes away before Shelby does.

When it's over and Quinn is finally able to look away, she finds Dustin giving her a strange look. In an attempt to appear far more in control of herself than she actually is, she quirks an eyebrow at him and he shrugs and looks away. She realizes that Shelby is saying something to them, but whatever it is, Quinn isn't hearing it—she's too busy coming to terms with the fact that she has a serious, definite crush on Shelby Corcoran.

xx

Things can only get worse from here. Quinn's had crushes before; she knows how bad she is at keeping them under wraps. Besides, it's not as if this thing she has for Shelby is some horrible affliction of blushing whenever a cute boy passes by. It's this low-down jolt she gets in the pit of her stomach whenever their eyes lock, and the burning sensation she feels whenever they accidentally touch. And yeah, there is _a lot_ of blushing.

Quinn is well aware that this is not good for her. Not only is Shelby twice her age, but she's her _teacher_, for fuck's sake, and of course there's all this confusion because Shelby is practically her savior now and there's a very good chance that this could all just be some serious case of hero worship. Just when she thought her life was going to start being somewhat "normal," her stupid hormones have to come in and screw things up.

Shelby is not stupid. She's been a teacher for long enough to know what a crush looks like. She's had plenty of high school boys stare at her ass as she walks down the hall or bring her one of those cheap boxes of chocolate from Walgreen's on Valentine's Day in the hopes of charming her. She's even had a few female admirers over the years. The difference is that she's never reciprocated any potential feelings for her students because, one: she's not a pedophile, and two: she has no real interest in losing her career over some fumbling teenager who's looking for a reputation boost. Still, it's pretty much impossible to ignore the feeling she gets whenever she meets those gorgeous hazel eyes and the fact that when she catches _Quinn_ staring at her ass, she doesn't really mind. Whatever this is, it terrifies her to no end.

After the towel incident when Quinn first came to stay with her (which Shelby was more than happy to pass off as a fluke and forget about until now) the two of them had managed to stay pretty much out of each other's way around the apartment. Unfortunately, the universe hates Shelby Corcoran, and that's not just some overdramatic projection because there have been plenty of instances in her life that serve as evidence to that fact. For example, the fact that Shelby loves cherries and yet is deathly allergic to them. Or the fact that she gave up the only child she ever had and now she can never have children again. And now there's this thing with Quinn, which is entirely inappropriate and unacceptable, but which Shelby is willing to ignore for the time being (a.k.a. forever).

Except the universe hates her, and one night they have this freak drop in temperature that leaves ice on the ground and in the morning Shelby slips on the ice and when Quinn tries to steady her, they both end up falling. Suddenly Quinn is on top of her, and their faces are dangerously close, and for one sickening moment, Shelby is terrified that Quinn is going to kiss her, and even more terrified that she'll kiss Quinn back.

Quinn doesn't kiss her, thank Streisand, but the incident is enough to make Shelby decide that she needs to avoid any and all close encounters with the girl at all costs.

It goes well, because even though they never talk about it, Quinn seems eager to cooperate. They stay a minimum of five feet away from each other at all times. If one of them is in the narrow hallway, the other will wait until they're through before entering herself. They stay on safe subjects—mostly school and glee—and there is most certainly no more walking around in towels.

In a way, Quinn feels kind of guilty. She figures it's her fault for the sudden gap that's grown between her and Shelby just when they were starting to get close. Maybe if she'd been less obvious about whatever this is she's feeling, things wouldn't be so awkward. And yet, she can't help but remember that time when Shelby practically ogled her in her towel, and when they slipped on the ice together and the look in Shelby's eyes while they lay there trying to catch their breath. She knows she's probably just projecting, but sometimes it seems like Shelby's keeping them separated as much for her own caution as she does for Quinn's. If Shelby is even half as attracted to her as she is to Shelby, well… she doesn't even want to think about how messy the situation might get.

xx

It's a Tuesday when Dustin notices. He and Quinn go to literature after lunch as usual, and he greets Shelby with his usual enthusiasm. But this time, Shelby and Quinn share a quick glance before looking away from each other like they're shooting laser beams out of their eyes or something, and Shelby mutters this awkward, "Hey, Quinn," and Quinn blushes like Shelby just said something really inappropriate or whatever, and then they spend the rest of the period avoiding each other, which is really weird because Quinn usually raises her hand at least once each class and Shelby always seems to be glancing at Quinn like she's checking to make sure Quinn isn't about to have some nervous breakdown or something. And come to think of it, they've been acting like this for a few days now and it's really starting to freak him out because girl mood swings are never good.

"What's up with you guys?" he asks once they finally get out of class. Quinn just looks at him like he's got some weird_Star Trek_ makeup on or something.

"What are you talking about?" she says, and it's way too snappy for her. For a horrified moment, Dustin wonders if she must be on her period, but then he remembers that Quinn usually just gets really depressed when she's on her period, not mean. And the fact that he even knows that means that he is **way** too whipped for his own good.

"I mean, you guys have been acting weird around each other lately. Did you, like, have a fight or something?"

Quinn rolls her eyes at him like she can't be bothered with his concern today. "No, we didn't have a fight, and I don't even know what you're talking about because we're not acting weird."

Dustin _is_ whipped, and he knows when it's in his best interest to stop arguing.

"Okay, if you say so," he mutters and leaves her at the door to her next class.

Yeah, definitely weird.

He tries to figure it out during glee that afternoon, to catch them being weird again, but it's kind of hard when they're in a big group and not one-on-one like earlier. Still, he notices that one of them will look at the other and then quickly look away whenever the other notices, and then they'll switch. When Quinn notices him watching them, she glares at him and doesn't look at Shelby anymore. But Shelby still looks at Quinn, and she seems to do it even more frequently when she realizes that Quinn is no longer looking back, to the point that she doesn't even notice when Jesse asks her something about a routine. Dustin doesn't know what the hell is going on, but he knows that he will definitely be watching the two of them more closely from now on. Discretely, of course, because Quinn is really scary when she's mad.

xx

It gets to a point where they barely even speak. It's not that they actually mean for it to happen, but the more they try to avoid any potentially dangerous topics, the more dangerous the mundane ones become. Quinn can't even hold a conversation anymore without staring at Shelby's lips and wondering what it might be like to kiss them. Then, of course, she gets flustered at the thought and Shelby notices and the two of them have to separate for at least an hour before they can properly ignore the situation again.

After about a week of this, Quinn has had just about enough. It's not like she's some horny animal that can't control herself. There's no reason why she and Shelby can't have a perfectly normal relationship despite this crush of hers. She can act like a normal human being and she intends to tell Shelby as much. However, Shelby is working out when Quinn tries to approach her, and the sight of her coach in a pair of extremely tight yoga pants and a tank top with a light sheen of sweat on her body, she decides that it might be better to come back at another time and goes off to take a cold shower.

Later, at dinner, Quinn tries again.

"Hey, Shelby?"

Shelby looks up in surprise because she's gotten so used to eating dinner with Quinn in almost complete silence that she doesn't expect the sudden change. Quinn takes a deep breath and looks Shelby straight in the eye.

"I know it's been kind of, um, weird between us lately. And I know it's my fault. I've been a little… confused, I guess. But I just wanted to say that I've gotten everything straightened out and it's totally cool now."

Shelby is so relieved she could cry. Instead, she says, "No, Quinn, it's not your fault. I've been out of sorts, too. But you're right; we shouldn't have to be uncomfortable around each other."

"Good," Quinn sighs with a smile.

"Good," Shelby agrees.

They eat the rest of their dinner in silence.

xx

It _is_ better after that. Quinn makes a deliberate effort not to act like a teenage boy around Shelby, and Shelby tries to pretend that Quinn's eyes have no affect on her whatsoever. They start talking again, keep any and all touching to a minimum, and it's almost exactly like it was before.

Quinn goes to visit her mother again on a Saturday, and Shelby finds herself very disconcerted by the girl's absence. She's gotten used to having Quinn around, and even with the new circumstances surrounding their relationship, she doesn't like it when Quinn's not there. She spends her time distractedly trying to plan her lessons for the week, and she even puts on _Funny Girl_ to try to make herself feel better, but when the door to her apartment finally opens and Quinn steps through, she's so monumentally relieved that she can't even speak.

"Hi," Quinn says, shooting her a smile as she shuts the door.

"Hey," Shelby replies, trying her hardest to make it sound like she didn't just spend her entire afternoon worrying.

"Sorry I took so long. Dustin and I decided to go out for lunch afterward, and then we ran into some other kids from school," Quinn explains. She comes over and sits next to Shelby on the couch. "What have you been up to?"

"Lesson planning," Shelby tells her. She tries not to move away from Quinn because even though they're not actually touching, it still feels too close. If Quinn notices, she doesn't seem to mind, so Shelby tries her best to ignore. "So I guess Dustin didn't want to come in and say hi?"

Quinn laughs. "He still thinks it's weird that I'm even staying here. He acts like teachers shouldn't exist outside of high school."

Shelby smirks. "Well, how was everything else?" she asks as subtly as she can. She doesn't want Quinn to think she's prying, even though she kind of is.

"You mean with my mom?" Quinn asks with a knowing grin. Shelby shrugs, then nods. "It was… pretty good, actually. Still hard, you know? But we actually talked for a while, which is more than we've done in years."

"That's really great, Quinn," Shelby tells her sincerely and Quinn smiles brightly.

"Yeah. I don't really want to get my hopes up, but it seemed like there weren't as many bottles lying around as there should be for a Saturday," Quinn says.

Shelby chooses her words carefully. She doesn't want Quinn to get her hopes up either. "Well, maybe this whole thing is making her realize what she's missing out on with you. Maybe she's trying to change."

"I hope so," Quinn admits quietly.

Shelby doesn't know what possesses her, but she reaches out and sweeps a lock of Quinn's hair away from her face. She doesn't miss the way that Quinn's eyes flutter closed, or the corresponding drop in her stomach. By the time her brain registers the danger of the situation, it's too late. She pulls her hand away quickly, as though burned, and Quinn's eyes snap open. She looks at Shelby with confusion.

"I should—I need to…" she stammers, standing up, but there's nothing that she needs to do more than get away from Quinn _right now_, and her brain is too out of sorts to think of a proper excuse, so she turns to flee.

Quinn is after her in a second, and her hand closes around Shelby's wrist like a vice as she spins her around. Before Shelby can say anything, before she can even react, Quinn kisses her.

It's just a simple pressing together of lips because it's not like Quinn's some sort of expert and she didn't exactly plan this, but it's enough to make her knees go weak. And suddenly, Shelby's fingers are in her hair, holding her closer, and she's kissing her back and it's not just lips pressing together anymore. Shelby's kisses are wet and desperate, and Quinn cannot _believe_ that she didn't see this sooner; that every time she was trying to keep from crossing this line with Shelby, Shelby was trying to keep from crossing it with her.

It's over as suddenly as it started. Shelby jumps away and touches her lips with pure disbelief on her face. Quinn doesn't move, doesn't even breathe for fear of what's going to happen next.

"Jesus," Shelby breathes, shaking her head as she backs slowly away. "God, I can't do this. I can't do this."

Quinn is still staring at the spot where Shelby had been standing long after her coach has left the apartment.

xx

It's well into the night by the time she returns. Any hopes she has of Quinn being asleep are immediately dashed when she walks through the door. Sever hours and a pack of cigarettes are still not enough to prepare her for the sight of Quinn sitting on the couch, looking at her like a frightened puppy. She sighs and silently berates herself because this isn't Quinn's fault and she doesn't want to her hurt her.

She sits on the couch as far away from Quinn as she can possibly get with her hands on her knees while Quinn studiously refuses to look at her.

"Quinn," she says finally, as firmly as she can manage. Quinn looks up at her and bites her lip nervously. Shelby tries not to stare at it and continues. "This can't happen." She gestures vaguely between the two of them to explain what she's talking about.

"I know," Quinn mutters, looking back down at the carpet.

"I'm your teacher," she continues, as if Quinn doesn't already know this. "You're _sixteen_."

"I know," Quinn repeats, glancing at Shelby as the woman runs her fingers through her hair in frustration.

"God, if anyone ever finds out, I can't even imagine the shit storm…"

Quinn's not sure who Shelby's trying to convince more at this point, but she notices that her ramblings don't include not having feelings for Quinn as one of the many reasons that they can't do this. It's probably this fact, along with the fact that Shelby looks really adorable in her frustration, which causes her to close the distance between them.

This time when Quinn kisses her, Shelby almost seems to be expecting it because she kisses back instantly. Without knowing how it happens, Quinn ends up on top of Shelby with her hands tracing the curves of Shelby's face and Shelby's hands resting on the patch of skin just above her jeans.

When they pull away for air, Shelby looks up at Quinn like she's never been more afraid in her life.

"This is such a bad idea," Shelby whispers, and Quinn can smell the smoke on her breath.

"I know," Quinn replies, and kisses her again.


	7. Chapter 7

**Title:**Kiss and Tell (Loose Lips Sink Ships)  
><strong>Author:<strong>texaswatermelon  
><strong>Fandom:<strong> Glee  
><strong>Pairing:<strong> Quinn/Shelby, eventual Quinn/Brittany, eventual Rachel/Santana  
><strong>Rating:<strong> R, for language and possible adult situations  
><strong>Summary:<strong> _Most people in Vocal Adrenaline tend to feel one of two ways about Shelby Corcoran: they either loathe her with all the fire of a thousand of Carmel High's stage lights, or they possess some amount of sickening admiration for her. Quinn is really a mix of these two extremes._  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Glee is property of Ryan Murphy Television and 20th Century Fox. All characters, places, and recognizable names herein have been borrowed for the use of this fanfiction. Title from "XO" by Fall Out Boy. This story is a work of fiction and is in no way affiliated with the aforementioned groups. No infringement intended.  
><strong>AN:**AU Quinn has always gone to Carmel school district, so none of her storyline from Glee applies. This takes place during the same year as season 1 of Glee, so just assume spoilers for all episodes. On the WMHS side of things, there will be an OC who will replace Quinn and take over her whole plot. Assume that everything follows cannon over there unless otherwise mentioned in the story. As far as Vocal Adrenalin goes, I'll be mentioning some real characters and some OC characters, so don't get confused there. If anything is unclear, just ask and I'll try my best to Windex that shit. Unbeta'd; all mistakes are my own.  
><strong>Warnings:<strong> This story deals with issues of alcoholism, abuse of prescription medication, neglect, minor instances of child abuse, student/teacher relationships, sexual relations with a minor, and of course femslash. Now, as far as I know, the legal age of consent in Ohio is 16, but it's still pretty taboo; we're talking about a relationship between a sixteen-year-old and a woman in her mid thirties, so. If any of that stuff is a bother to you, I would suggest finding something else to read. Also, angst. So, that being said, please enjoy.

**Note:** So I was perusing the _Glee_ Wiki and I happened to discover the fact that apparently Andrea Cohen is not the same as the bitch at the end of S1 who eggs Rachel and whatever. That bitch is named Giselle, but since I think it's retarded that _Glee_ has no continuity regarding its souless automatons, I'm going to just disregard this fact and have you all pretend that Andrea Cohen is the same bitch at the end of S1 and Giselle just like, doesn't exist. So that's that.

* * *

><p>She must be fucking crazy. It's the only thought that runs through her head the entire night while she lies in her bed pretending to be asleep. Because there is no other possible explanation as to why she allowed Quinn Fabray to kiss her twice in one night. She has clearly lost her mind, and when she gets to work the first thing she should do is request a leave of absence from the principal so she can go get psychiatric assistance.<p>

Quinn kissed her.

Not only did Quinn kiss her, and not only did Shelby kiss her back, but she waited several hours while Shelby ran away and then did it again the minute she came back. And Shelby kissed her back that time, too. And the time immediately following that. And by the time Shelby managed to un-suction her mouth from Quinn's and suggest that they both go to bed, it had already been too late. Shelby had taken the first gigantic step towards ruining her entire life.

Maybe it's not too late. Maybe Shelby can somehow manage to salvage the last vestiges of her morality and stop this thing before it goes any further; before she allows Quinn to delude herself into thinking that any relationship between them is possible and before she starts believing it herself. She can find another home for Quinn, maybe send her back to her mom now that Judy appears to be getting slightly better…

Shelby sighs. That's a stupid idea. There's no reason to punish Quinn for her own lack of self-control. If she hadn't been attracted to the sixteen-year-old in the first place, Quinn would never have picked up on it and would never have acted on it. This is all Shelby's fault, of course. But she can still fix it. She can still dig some kind of selflessness out of herself from somewhere.

Her sanity, however… well, that's a lost cause.

xx

Quinn notices it the moment she sees Shelby in the morning. She sees the bags under Shelby's eyes that indicate a complete lack of sleep, and the way that Shelby has to look away from her and take a deep breath in order to gather resolve. She sees that Shelby has managed to talk herself out of this again, and she knows that she has to reverse the damage immediately, otherwise it will all be ruined. Now that she's had a taste of Shelby Corcoran, she can't live without it.

"Don't," Quinn interrupts the moment Shelby opens her mouth to speak.

Shelby shakes her head. "Quinn…"

"We've already been through this," Quinn reminds her, taking a step closer. "Twice. You think it's going to end differently this time?"

"Third time's a charm," Shelby shrugs, but she doesn't really feel like joking, not when Quinn keeps coming towards her.

"No it isn't."

She's directly in front of Shelby now, looking into her eyes with complete determination.

"You have feelings for me."

"No, I don't," Shelby argues immediately. A knee-jerk response.

Quinn raises an eyebrow challengingly. "So if I kiss you again, you won't kiss me back?"

She kisses Shelby without further warning, a heavy, open-mouthed kiss that leaves nothing to the imagination, and Shelby should have seen this coming, but she responds as predicted. She pinches the bridge of her nose in frustration when Quinn pulls away. Quinn can see the conflict, see how bad she feels about this, and it makes her feel slightly guilty, too. She doesn't want Shelby to be beating herself up about this. She takes Shelby's hands in her own; tugs so that Shelby will look at her.

"We're not doing anything wrong," she whispers.

Shelby scoffs and shakes her head, but grips Quinn's hands tighter. Finally, she looks back into hazel eyes.

"Then why do I feel so awful about this?"

Quinn can't answer that; she can only wrap her arms around Shelby's neck and pull her close. Try to feel comforted when Shelby hugs her back.

There is no arrangement. No "yes, we're definitely doing this even though we can't and have to hide it," or, "no, we're not doing this but we're going to make out in secret anyway." Quinn can tell that Shelby is stressed and confused and she feels bad because her first instinct in order to fix that problem would be to get closer and more intimate, but since that's what's causing the problem in the first place she's kind of at a loss. There is nothing she can say or do to convince Shelby that this is okay even though Quinn is technically of age in the state of Ohio and is clearly consenting. Shelby mostly keeps to herself for the whole day and Quinn tries not to intrude, but on the rare occasions that Shelby catches her eye she tries her best to give a reassuring smile and thinks that maybe sometimes it helps.

Around six Quinn orders Chinese food because Shelby hasn't eaten all day and she's not about to let the woman make herself literally sick over this. Shelby jumps nearly ten feet in the air when the delivery guy knocks on the door, but Quinn calmly retrieves their food and gives the guy money to make him go away as quickly as possible. She sets the boxes on the coffee table where Shelby has been working, or pretending to work, all day and sits next to her on the couch. She doesn't miss it when Shelby tenses up, but she insists that Shelby eat and counteracts the "not hungry" argument with Shelby's lack of intake. Shelby seems to decide that she'd rather eat than argue, so she proceeds to inhale her food like a blue whale, which is just as likely to make her sick as not eating. Quinn finally puts an end to it by placing her hand on Shelby's knee.

"Stop," Quinn demands gently when Shelby's nervous eyes flit to meet her own. "No one is here. No one's coming to break down your door and catch you in the act of harmlessly eating dinner with the abused student you offered to shelter. No one knows anything. There's nothing to know. You're being paranoid for no reason and making yourself sick on Chinese food is only going to make you feel worse. Just… relax. Please."

She takes the chopsticks from Shelby's right hand and drops them into the half-empty takeout box before replacing them with her own hand. Shelby stares at it for a moment, then at Quinn, and then back at their hands before finally lacing their fingers together.

"Okay," she agrees with a nod.

Quinn smiles and squeezes her hand gently. "Okay."

xx

In the morning it's back to school. They get up and get ready like normal and Shelby seems mostly fine. She shoots Quinn a smile when she ambles into the kitchen and doesn't even flinch when Quinn deliberately brushes past her in the hallway and catches their fingers together for a second. Quinn decides to wear a pair of painted on jeans to school and doesn't hide her smirk when she sees Shelby checking her out on the way out the door.

When they actually get to school, Quinn bumps into Shelby as they walk down the hall, accidentally this time, but Shelby reacts as though Quinn has just tried grabbing her ass in public. She doesn't say anything, but her hands clench into fists and she walks at least three feet away from Quinn at all times. Quinn wants to apologize, but there's nothing really to apologize for and it will only make Shelby edgier and more defensive. Quinn learns fast: she'll have to be extra careful around Shelby while they're at school, otherwise they'll be back to square one again even when they're at home.

Despite the obvious downsides to this whole thing, Quinn decides to keep her head up. Sure, she and Shelby aren't technically in a relationship, but it feels like they are and that puts Quinn in an appropriately good mood. Dustin doesn't say anything because he knows better than to address such things with Quinn if he doesn't want to get his head bitten off, but he does notice the sudden change in Quinn's mood. He can't quite explain it though, since things are still kind of awkward with Shelby. But something is definitely different, and Dustin doesn't like how worried it makes him feel. Just because Quinn is in a good mood, doesn't mean that whatever's going on is a good thing.

The days get easier. Quinn discovers quickly that the more careful she is at school, the less cautious she has to be at home. If she doesn't brush up against Shelby in the hallways, then she can catch her fingers unexpectedly in the kitchen. If she doesn't smile at Shelby too often during class, then she can smirk at her suggestively over dinner. If she doesn't stare at Shelby inappropriately during practice, then she can lean her head against her shoulder while they watch some old musical on the couch. And the best part about that is that Shelby will wrap her arm around Quinn's shoulders and allow her to snuggle in deeper.

xx

Two weeks later, they go to sectionals. The day before the performance they practice two hours extra and then the team goes out for a pre-victory pizza party, minus Shelby, who stays behind to make sure that everything is prepared. It's a pretty laid-back affair considering the fact that everyone already knows that they're going to win. Even though Quinn is nervous about her solo, she knows that Vocal Adrenaline will win sectionals on principle. That, combined with the fact that she managed to kiss Shelby a few days ago without Shelby completely freaking out, makes her pretty happy.

Dustin drops her off at Shelby's when it's over and wishes her luck.

"Make sure you rest up tonight so you can unleash all of your awesome tomorrow," he tells her with a grin, which she gladly mirrors.

"Make sure you rest up so you can handle my awesome," Quinn teases in return. "I'll see you bright and early tomorrow."

She hops out of the SUV and runs up the steps toward the building, turning around once to wave at Dustin before trotting inside.

Shelby is hunched over the coffee table reading over notes and sheet music and schedules when Quinn comes in. Her head snaps up at the sound of the door closing, but when she sees who it is she smiles brightly and it makes Quinn's heart flutter with promise. This is her reward for doing really well today and being completely inconspicuous during school.

"How was the pizza outing?" Shelby asks, turning back to the papers in front of her.

"It was good." Quinn walks over to the couch and sits close to Shelby, looking at whatever she's doing over her shoulder. "Everyone's really confident, as usual."

"Good," is Shelby's distracted reply as she squints through her glasses at a white entry form filled out in sharp, slanted letters that Quinn easily recognizes. She's not sure why Shelby is so intent on this stuff, but she knows that there are other things she would rather her coach be focusing on. She scoots closer so that her arm is pressing tightly to Shelby's side and picks absently at the material of Shelby's black sweater. If Shelby's deep intake of breath is any indication, her distraction is already working.

"Whatcha doing?" Quinn asks with fake curiosity, making her voice soft and speaking more to Shelby's cheek than anything.

Shelby clears her throat and tightens her grip on the form she's still holding, but definitely not reading anymore.

"I'm just going over some last minute details to make sure everything's in order," she explains, keeping her voice remarkably even.

"Hmm," Quinn hums. Her hand is basically caressing Shelby's arm now. "I never knew you worried so much about sectionals." She trails her fingers down Shelby's arm and stops to trace patterns over the exposed skin of her wrist.

"I'm just being thorough," Shelby replies, but by this point she's given up on the form and sets it back on the table along with the others. "Even the best performances can be overshadowed by incomplete paperwork."

She turns her head just enough to catch Quinn's gaze, and even though she doesn't smile, Quinn can tell that she's happy by the way her eyes crease. She laces their fingers together now that Shelby's hands are unoccupied and licks her lips. She wants to kiss Shelby very badly, but she knows better than to rush these things.

"Are you nervous?"

Quinn blinks, suddenly distracted and confused herself. "Huh?"

Shelby barely conceals her smirk. "Are you nervous?" she repeats, more slowly this time. "About your solo tomorrow?"

When Quinn bites her lip, Shelby wishes she hadn't asked the question.

"I don't think so," Quinn replies, and it doesn't draw Shelby's gaze from her mouth. "Maybe a little."

"You shouldn't be. You'll be perfect. Your voice is breathtaking," Shelby assures her. Quinn blushes, glances away for a moment.

"Thanks," she whispers. "But not like yours. When you sing, I…" She shakes her head, at a loss for words. "I think watching you on stage is what made me feel so…"

Again, she doesn't finish, but Shelby gets the idea and inhales deeply at the thought. Quinn leans forward and captures her lips softly, and Shelby breathes a sigh of relief into her mouth, resting her hand on the back of Quinn's neck to hold her closer.

In a second Quinn is shifting, straddling Shelby's hips with her knees and running her fingers through Shelby's hair. Shelby grabs Quinn's waist with both hands and tries to ignore the fire igniting low in her belly while Quinn kisses her so languidly that she's sure she'll melt. Her fingers dig into Quinn's sides harder than she intends, and Quinn's resulting moan makes all of the air immediately leave her lungs and she has to pull away to breathe. Quinn's flushed cheeks, swollen lips, and sparkling eyes do absolutely nothing to help.

"We… you should… get some sleep," Shelby forces out, loosening her hold on Quinn's sides. "Big day tomorrow," is added as an afterthought.

Quinn nods distractedly and only manages to disengage herself from Shelby's lap with great difficultly. She smoothes out her shirt before glancing at Shelby sheepishly.

"Goodnight," she whispers, leaning in to give Shelby one last kiss on the cheek. Then she turns and heads down the hall towards her room. Shelby doesn't breathe again until she hears the bedroom door close.

Neither of them get very much sleep that night.

xx

Quinn's nerves are a bit more noticeable in the morning without Shelby's tongue to soothe them. She feels an anticipatory flutter in her stomach that makes her reluctant to eat or drink anything, despite Shelby's insistence that she do exactly that. Quinn manages to dodge the issue by pretending to make toast while Shelby rushes around to get everything in order, and handing her cup after cup of coffee as she requires it. Quinn marvels at the amount that Shelby can consume, especially when she's busy; almost like she's using as some sort of fuel. In the end, Shelby forgets all about forcing Quinn to eat breakfast and pushes the girl out the door, carrying costumes and overnight bags between them.

They stop to pick up Dustin and Jesse on the way to the school where everyone will be meeting so they can pile into a few of the SUVs and drive up together. Jesse is bright eyed and obnoxious, chattering excitedly to Shelby about the competing schools and the judges and telling Quinn about how she's going to blow everyone away when she does her number. She doesn't put much stock in it; Jesse will hit on any girl if he thinks she's talented enough and Quinn has heard all of his meaningless compliments before. Dustin, however, alternates between scowling out of the window and glaring directly at Jesse when he's not looking. Shelby spends most of her time pretending to listen to Jesse while sneaking glances at Quinn in the rearview mirror.

It takes half an hour for everyone to show up in the Carmel High parking lot (Andrea comes last, purely out of spite), and in that time Shelby sends Jesse out on a coffee run. It's only when he comes back with a bag of McDonalds that Quinn realizes that Shelby isn't as easily fooled as she thinks, so she spends the next twenty minutes trying to shove a pancake breakfast down her own throat while Shelby watches over her with an arched eyebrow and a self-satisfied smirk.

Much to Dustin's annoyance, Shelby's car retains its arrangement when they actually depart for the venue. Quinn hands him her iPod so that he has something to block out the noise of Jesse's voice and he smiles at her gratefully before balling up his jacket like a pillow and resting his head against the window. He seems to be asleep within minutes.

"It's just like performing during practice, only a thousand times more exhilarating because you know that every person in the room is locked on you and only you," Jesse is saying. Quinn realizes suddenly that he's talking about her solo again and resists the urge to smack him. She's not nearly as nervous as he apparently thinks she should be, and his constant harping on the subject is only making her feel bored and a little nauseous. Or maybe that's the sticky pancakes in her stomach, but it's uncomfortable regardless.

Shelby catches her eye in the mirror and she purses her lips in annoyance, but it's all worth it when Shelby's mouth quirks slightly and Quinn gets an idea.

"Is it like everything you ever dream of when you're a little kid pretending to be on stage?" she asks, putting just enough curiosity and awe in her voice for Jesse to buy it.

"Better," Jesse replies, grinning like a fool when Quinn moves to the middle seat and leans forward like she's really interested, resting on the divider between the two front seats. "So much better."

Quinn returns his smile, though she has no idea what the hell he's talking about. She never dreamed of being on stage when she was little and she doesn't dream of it when she graduates either. But Jesse dreams of it enough for the whole school, so she uses that to keep his attention while she snakes her left hand down the divider and onto Shelby's thigh. Quinn's eyes flicker over just in time to see Shelby's jaw clench tightly before she looks back at Jesse.

Even though she's looking directly at him, Quinn only catches snippets of Jesse's next monologue. Things like: "my first solo performance," "age three," and "toddler production of _FAME_." She nods and looks impressed and smiles charmingly at all the right moments to keep his ego inflated enough to cover his eyes, but spends most of her time focusing on the heat emanating from Shelby's thigh and the way her muscle tenses and relaxes according to the tiniest twitches of Quinn's fingers. About halfway through the speech, Quinn begins flexing her fingers back and forth, scratching with her nails ever so slightly, and she can hear Shelby's swallow loudly in her ear.

Three-quarters of the way through she lets her pinky slip down to graze the inner part of the thigh. Shelby starts choking on nothing and Quinn's hand immediately stills and finds a spot to hide near Shelby's hip. Jesse finally stops his incessant talking to check on her.

"Christ, Shelby, are you okay?"

"Fine," Shelby croaks, gasping a little.

"Here, this will help."

Quinn hands Shelby her soda from McDonalds while simultaneously working her hand just under the hem of Shelby's blouse at her side. Shelby takes a few gulps of Quinn's drink and catches her breath, trying very hard not to shoot the girl with her death glare.

"Better?" Quinn asks, taking her soda back and sucking on the straw with raised eyebrows. This time Shelby does glare at her, but only for a second before she nods.

"Thanks," she says, a bit sarcastically, but her throat is still scratchy and she coughs on it. Quinn tries really hard not to smile at how adorable it is. Jesse seems oblivious to all of it, thankfully.

"How about some radio so we can warm up our vocal chords?" he suggests and Quinn nods cheerfully. He fiddles with the dial until he finds a station he likes and spends the rest of the ride enjoying the sound of his own voice. Quinn chimes in occasionally. Her hand remains splayed across Shelby's skin the whole time, but Jesse never seems to notice and Shelby finally grows comfortable with having it there.

No one notices Dustin leaning against the window with his eyes cracked open, noticing everything.


	8. Chapter 8

**Title:**Kiss and Tell (Loose Lips Sink Ships)  
><strong>Author:<strong>texaswatermelon  
><strong>Fandom:<strong> Glee  
><strong>Pairing:<strong> Quinn/Shelby, eventual Quinn/Brittany, eventual Rachel/Santana  
><strong>Rating:<strong> R, for language and possible adult situations  
><strong>Summary:<strong> _Most people in Vocal Adrenaline tend to feel one of two ways about Shelby Corcoran: they either loathe her with all the fire of a thousand of Carmel High's stage lights, or they possess some amount of sickening admiration for her. Quinn is really a mix of these two extremes._  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Glee is property of Ryan Murphy Television and 20th Century Fox. All characters, places, and recognizable names herein have been borrowed for the use of this fanfiction. Title from "XO" by Fall Out Boy. This story is a work of fiction and is in no way affiliated with the aforementioned groups. No infringement intended.  
><strong>AN:**AU Quinn has always gone to Carmel school district, so none of her storyline from Glee applies. This takes place during the same year as season 1 of Glee, so just assume spoilers for all episodes. On the WMHS side of things, there will be an OC who will replace Quinn and take over her whole plot. Assume that everything follows cannon over there unless otherwise mentioned in the story. As far as Vocal Adrenalin goes, I'll be mentioning some real characters and some OC characters, so don't get confused there. If anything is unclear, just ask and I'll try my best to Windex that shit. Unbeta'd; all mistakes are my own.  
><strong>Warnings:<strong> This story deals with issues of alcoholism, abuse of prescription medication, neglect, minor instances of child abuse, student/teacher relationships, sexual relations with a minor, and of course femslash. Now, as far as I know, the legal age of consent in Ohio is 16, but it's still pretty taboo; we're talking about a relationship between a sixteen-year-old and a woman in her mid thirties, so. If any of that stuff is a bother to you, I would suggest finding something else to read. Also, angst. So, that being said, please enjoy.

* * *

><p>The venue is a buzz of activity when they walk in. There are tons of people walking around: competitors running towards bathrooms and dressing rooms, advisors talking to the registration officials, audience members chatting with each other and flocking to the concession counter. It makes Quinn's stomach churn again with a mix of excitement and apprehension. It's exactly the same as it was last year, but last year Quinn was just a background singer and a freshman and living with her mom. This year she's a soloist and a sophomore and she has a new home. More importantly, she has feelings for Shelby that she didn't have last year and she suddenly realizes just how important it is that she nail this performance, because what if she screws it up and Shelby wants nothing to do with her anymore?<p>

"I'm going to go sign us in. You guys go start getting ready," Shelby tells them and they all move off in the direction of their dressing rooms. Quinn follows blindly. How could she have forgotten how many people were here last year?

It's all a blur: getting dressed, helping the other girls zip their dresses and the guys tie their ties, doing hair and makeup, checking and double checking to make sure everything looks perfect. Shelby enters halfway through the process and gets to work adjusting the strap on Melissa's dress, pinning Kelly's bra out of the way, figuring out that Matthew and Jason accidentally switched shoes, getting Luke's hat to stay on his head, applying Lauren's eyeliner.

Quinn feels Shelby's fingers in her hair before she even sees her in the mirror. She watches silently, motionlessly as Shelby separates certain strands and layers them just so on top of Quinn's head with all the concentration of an oncologist on the brink of curing cancer. She grabs a curling iron out of nowhere and fixes a few curls, adjusts some bobby pins, and applies half a can of hairspray. When she's finally finished, she sweeps the hair off of Quinn's shoulders and meets her eyes in the mirror with a soft smile.

"Beautiful," she says quietly, and if her fingertips graze Quinn's shoulder for a second too long, no one else notices. Quinn's heart soars.

Vocal Adrenaline is assigned to go last as usual, so when the call comes everyone files into the auditorium to sit down for introductions and the first two acts. Dustin looks oddly pensive throughout the whole thing and Quinn winders if he's still annoyed about having to ride up with Jesse, but it isn't like him to hold on to something for so long. When she puts a hand on his arm and smiles, his own smile seems a little tight, but it's not as though she can get into it with him right now, so she just turns her attention back to the announcer.

The first group to go is MEGA Forte, from a school in Toledo. Their name holds up; they do a mash up of several songs from different rock genres, and they are incredibly _loud_ about it. They sound great, but they don't really have a lot of choreography going for them and Quinn's ears are ringing by the end of their performance. The next group is an all-girl's choir from Brunswick that has a generic name and does a perfectly boring set of female power ballads. Quinn glances at Shelby several seats down and shivers slightly at the stony look of concentration on her face. She always looks like this at competitions, like an executioner waiting for the cue to flip the switch. Quinn hates this look, but she guesses it's part of why Shelby is so successful at coaching show choir.

It's their turn to go then, and before Quinn knows it they're standing backstage getting in formation for their first number, which is a popped-up version of "Mr. Brightside" by The Killers. Quinn feels her palms getting sweaty because she knows she won't have time to really even think before they transition into her song and so she better get it all out now. She wipes her hands down the sides of her dress and takes a few deep breaths while the announcer introduces them with all kinds of fanfare. Her eyes find Shelby standing off to the side without her even meaning to, but Shelby looks at her at that exact moment, too and for a split second her expression softens and she nods almost imperceptibly before her face sets again. Quinn looks behind herself to find Dustin, but he's not looking at her at all, which is absurd because he _always_ looks at her before a show, but he's staring straight ahead and his eyes never shift. It puts Quinn's stomach in knots, but before she has time to dwell on it the music starts and the curtain lifts.

The motions come to her as easily as breathing. She's done them so many times that her muscles just act completely of their own accord. Jesse belts out the lead vocals, of course, and Quinn is more than happy to harmonize around him as they all dance out a strange little drama to go along with the lyrics that only Dakota Stanley could ever conceptualize. It's fun, it's easy, and it's over far too quickly. Soon the lights are dimming and everyone is rushing to get into their new positions surrounding Quinn. The lights go up, the music shifts, the boys fall out of her way, and suddenly Quinn is singing.

It all happens too fast for her to really remember anything. The words flow out of her without any effort at all and she breezes through lifts and twirls and it's all over before she knows it. She stands there staring out at a sea of faces—all standing and clapping and cheering—completely flushed and out of breath. Someone's arm is around her and she looks up to see Jesse beaming at her. He makes her take a bow, and then another, and then they all crowd off stage while the audience is still cheering. Jesse scoops her up in a giant hug once they're out of the way, followed by several others, and people pat her on the back and shake her shoulders and congratulate her.

Someone touches her shoulder and Quinn whirls around, coming face to face with Dustin, who squeezes her arm and gives her a soft smile.

"Congratulations. You were great," he tells her, and he sounds like he really means it, but then he walks away and Quinn just doesn't understand because Dustin should have been the one to hug her right after and she should have been in his arms relentlessly while everyone tried to congratulate her and he should have been beaming.

Before she can call out to him or go after him, Shelby steps into her field of view. Shelby _is_ beaming, and Quinn has never seen a smile like that on Shelby's face before. It makes her forget all about Dustin; makes her forget all about breathing for a second until Shelby wraps her up in a hug.

"You were perfect," she whispers directly into Quinn's ear. "I knew you would be."

Quinn's smile feels like it's going to stretch the entire way off of her face, but she doesn't really care. She's never been this happy in her entire life.

They win. Of course they win. Quinn isn't even nervous while they wait for the results, because even if they didn't win she's pretty sure nothing could break the high that she's on. Not even Dustin's weird sulking, which isn't even on her mind when she turns to give Jesse another hug after the winner is announced. Afterwards, they go out for food to celebrate their inevitable victory again, except this time Shelby actually comes along and she toasts them on all of their hard work. Quinn is still very happy, so she does her best to ignore the fact that Dustin isn't sitting anywhere near her and chatters with her other teammates.

They stay in a nearby hotel that night because there's another sectionals competition the next day and the winner of that will be competing against them at regionals, so Shelby is making them watch. Quinn doesn't really mind, except for the fact that Shelby has her own room and Quinn doesn't get to stay in it, but she realizes that would be the epitome of suspicious, even if they do live together. Instead she shares a room with Melissa, Amy, and Julie, none of whom is she particularly close with, but they chat every now and again at school.

Quinn decides to take a trip to the floor below them where the boys are staying to see if she can figure out what the hell's got Dustin in such a bad mood. She's just about to forego the elevator for the stairs when the doors slide open to reveal Shelby, who raises an eyebrow at her as she steps out.

"Where are you going?" she asks, and Quinn bites her lip sheepishly.

"I was going to visit Dustin. I… I think he's mad at me."

Shelby frowns this time, trying to figure out when this would have occurred since they seemed fine this morning, but then she remembers that they sat apart at dinner, which is definitely unusual.

"Why is he mad at you?" she asks curiously.

"I don't know," Quinn sighs. "I don't even know if he really is, but he's acting weird and I just want to see what's wrong."

It's Shelby's turn to bite her lip this time as she contemplates the fact that the girls really aren't allowed to be on the boys' floor and vice versa, but she trusts Quinn, and really the only person she has to worry about Quinn sneaking off to see is herself, which is too ironic for her to even think about.

"Okay," she relents finally, "but don't be too long and… come see me when you're done."

Quinn smiles gratefully and steps inside the elevator, wondering what Shelby wants to see her for and trying not to get her hopes up too much.

Dustin is in room 314, but when she knocks on it Jason, a tenor, answers. He greets her with a grin and she asks if she can speak to Dustin.

"Sure," he says, turning back to the room. "Yo, Dustin, Quinn's here to see you."

She hears the other guys whistling and rolls her eyes when Jason winks at her before stepping out of the way. A second later, Dustin takes his place. He steps out into the hallway and closes the door behind him. He stands there for a minute with his hands shoved in his pockets and his head down before he finally looks at her.

"Hey."

"Hi," Quinn replies quietly. "How are you?"

He shrugs. "Okay. You?"

"Okay," she repeats. She sighs and tucks a piece of hair behind her ear. "I was just wondering… I mean, it seemed like maybe you were mad at me for some reason."

"I'm not," Dustin replies instantly, but it's too quick and he looks back down at the carpet when he says it. Quinn doesn't believe him.

"I just… if you're mad, you should tell me what I did so I can apologize," she tries again.

"I'm not mad," Dustin insists. He still won't look at her.

"Dustin, whatever it is, I'm—"

"I said I'm not mad!"

He's looking at her now, and he's definitely mad, but Quinn doesn't know what to do because he's never been mad at her before and he clearly doesn't want to discuss it.

Quinn drops her shoulders. "Okay," she says simply. It's not okay, but what's she supposed to do about it if he won't talk to her? "Well, have a good night then."

Dustin nods once and turns to go back into the room. Quinn watches the door for several minutes after it's closed, half expecting him to pop back out and tell her that this is all some sort of joke. He doesn't, so Quinn finally sighs and heads back upstairs.

It isn't until she's halfway back to her room that she remembers that Shelby wanted to see her, so she does an about face and walks back down the hall until she gets to Shelby's door. She knocks three times and waits. She hears Shelby's voice on the other side of the door telling her to hold on and then the sound of locks unlatching before the door opens and Shelby smiles at her.

"Hey, come in," she says, walking back inside. Quinn's brow furrows, but she doesn't argue. She shuts the door behind her and walks in to find Shelby sitting on the only bed in the room. Shelby pats the bed, indicating for Quinn to sit down, so Quinn sits at the end of it and tries not to think about the fact that she and Shelby are literally in bed together. "So how did it go?"

It takes Quinn several seconds to figure out what Shelby's talking about, and she blushes at her distractedness when Shelby raises a questioning eyebrow at her.

"Oh, um…" Quinn sighs then and shakes her head because she's still completely baffled by this whole thing with Dustin. "I don't really know. He's definitely mad, but he wouldn't talk to me about it. I don't know what happened."

Shelby hums thoughtfully. "Well, when he's ready I'm sure he'll tell you. Maybe he just needs some time to think."

"It's just weird," Quinn says, a look of pure discomfort on her face. "He talks to me about everything. I've never seen him like this before, especially not towards me."

Shelby's hand closes around hers, and it's cold like always, but it's comforting. She tugs lightly and Quinn takes the hint, shifting so that she's sitting next to Shelby at the head of the bed. Shelby wraps an arm around her and Quinn leans her head against Shelby's shoulder, sighs contentedly and plays with Shelby's fingers.

"He's probably jealous," Shelby comments after a time. She can practically _feel_ Quinn's frown and continues. "It's obvious that he likes you, Quinn. He probably thinks you're getting together with Jesse or something. You two did seem pretty close today."

Quinn's head shoots off of Shelby's shoulder and she turns to look at her coach with an expression that's deadly serious.

"I'm not," she insists vehemently. "Jesse and I are definitely _not_ getting together." Shelby chuckles lightly and Quinn looks at her, completely incensed. "We're not!"

"I know, Quinn," Shelby assures her placidly. She reaches out to cup Quinn's cheek and her smile drops as she whispers. "I know."

Shelby looks so torn, so Quinn makes the decision for her and leans in, brushing their lips together lightly. When Shelby's hand goes instantly to her hair, Quinn takes it as a sign that she should continue. She moves closer, trying to maneuver around the ridiculous dress she's wearing and she really wishes she would have changed first. She growls slightly when she can't move any closer and tries shifting forward, but her knees get caught up in the material and she just ends up flopping face first onto the bed.

At first there's complete silence, and then Shelby completely loses it. Quinn can feel the bed shaking with her laughter. She rolls over and glares up at the woman indignantly, but Shelby only laughs harder and it's kind of hard not to be affected by it because Shelby's laugh is just… totally infectious, so Quinn starts laughing, too. Soon they're both cracking up like it's the funniest thing in the world, and maybe it's crazy, but Quinn has suffered through so many ridiculous emotions today that she just doesn't care. It's so good to be laughing like this with Shelby, who she thought she may never see laugh again. By the time they've sobered up, Quinn is lying with her head in Shelby's lap and Shelby is stroking Quinn's hair and things just feel peaceful.

"I was really proud of you today," Shelby tells her after a long time.

"Thanks," Quinn whispers, picking at the comforter in front of her. "I had a really good coach." Shelby snorts and rolls her eyes, even if Quinn can't see it, but doesn't say anything. Quinn finally sighs and pushes herself up. "I should probably get back to the room."

Shelby nods reluctantly. If she wasn't so positive that it would raise questions, she would just let Quinn stay. As it is, she's half tempted to offer, and she's glad that at least one of them has some sense, because apparently Shelby has lost all sense of self-preservation. But the more time she spends alone with Quinn; the more she lets Quinn cuddle with her, the more Quinn kisses her, the more ready she is to just fuck it all and throw herself into this thing. It scares her to no end, but there's not a damn thing she can do about it anymore. Quinn has completely destroyed any and all of her free will. She's been made powerless by a sixteen-year-old, and the sad part is that, for once, she's actually enjoying herself.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Quinn promises, and then her lips are pressing warmly to Shelby's cheek and she leaves. Shelby sits there motionless for a very long time before she gets up to lock the door and get ready for bed.

xx

Quinn finds Shelby in the hotel restaurant the next morning, drinking coffee and reading the paper.

"Do you ever eat breakfast?" she asks, sitting across from her and stealing a sip of her coffee.

Shelby lowers her paper and smirks. "Who needs breakfast when you've got gasoline?"

"You made me eat breakfast yesterday," Quinn points out. She cringes at the bitter taste in her mouth and asks a nearby waitress for some orange juice.

"Well you had a performance to get through," Shelby reminds her, reclaiming her coffee. "Plus, it's my job to make sure you're well taken care of."

"Well what if I want to make it _my_ job to make sure _you're_ well taken care of?" Quinn asks challengingly.

Shelby frowns. "Quinn…"

Quinn shrugs and takes a sip of her orange juice when it arrives.

"I'm just saying. It's your job to look out for me, but who's supposed to look out for you?"

"I'm an adult. I don't need looked out for," Shelby argues.

"I know better than anyone that adults need looked out for just as much as kids," Quinn says pointedly.

"Which is exactly why I don't want you to have to look out for me," Shelby replies, staring Quinn down. "I appreciate your concern, but I don't want you worrying about me."

Quinn looks away and shakes her head. "That's impossible. I always worry about you." She can feel Shelby staring at her with blank surprise and meets her gaze.

"Quinn…" she says again softly, desperately. Quinn smiles tightly and shrugs.

"Look, it's no big deal. Just split some breakfast with me. Then we'll both be happy."

Shelby doesn't look convinced at all, but she nods and motions for a waiter to take their order.

A few hours later Quinn is seated next to Shelby and Jesse in the audience of another mid-state Ohio sectionals competition. Quinn is glad that her performance is already over with and that she can just sit back and enjoy the show for once. She has a bottle of water and a box of Skittles to munch on. She offers some to Shelby, who purses her lips before picking out a few purple ones and ignoring the other colors. Quinn frowns and Shelby grins sheepishly. She turns to Jesse on her right to offer him some of her candy at the same time that he offers her some of his M&Ms. The two regard each other for a moment before swapping boxes.

The show starts off with a group from Jane Addams Academy, which appears to be an all-girls school. They're dressed a bit scantily, more like they're starring in a rap video than performing at a show choir competition, but they do "And I'm Telling You" from _Dreamgirls_ and a weird rendition of "Proud Mary" in wheelchairs, and it's pretty good. At least, that's what Quinn thinks, but one glance at Shelby and it's easy to see she's not very impressed. Jesse is inspecting his manicured nails closely and not even paying attention, so Quinn figures that this is not what they consider to be competition and it's not what they came here to see.

After a short break the next group goes on and Quinn can't even believe what she's seeing because it's actually a school for the deaf. She's not really sure how this is possible; it's actually slightly excruciating, which must be why there are so many people in tears while they perform. Shelby is not in tears. She looks almost pissed that she's being subjected to such a thing. Quinn hopes to God the last performance is good, otherwise she might stab her eardrums out and Shelby might kill somebody.

They sit through the usual fifteen minute lull while the next team gets ready, and then the announcer introduces a group called New Directions from McKinley High. The opening notes of a song flare up and suddenly there's a strong voice belting out the words to "Don't Rain On My Parade" from the back of the auditorium. The whole audience turns to look at the girl singing her heart out, and Quinn has to do a double-take because… _what the hell_?

The girl is tiny, with long, dark hair and tan skin and her voice is incredible. Her performance is completely captivating, but Quinn is really confused because she's almost certain that she's seen this exact performance before in her own auditorium at Carmel. This girl, whoever she is, is a spitting fucking image of Shelby Corcoran.

Quinn turns with wide eyes to see if Shelby has noticed this as well. Apparently she has; her face is blanched so white it looks like she's going to pass out and her knuckles grip the armrest so tightly that it very well might rip right off of the seat. Quinn has no idea what to do, so she looks to Jesse, but he appears to be just as confused and stunned as she is.

Quinn is completely oblivious to the fact that the rest of the group is now entering from the back of the room and walking up on stage. She keeps flicking her eyes back and forth between this mystery girl and Shelby, who looks as though she may actually die when the girl belts out the last note of the song. She feels like maybe she should put her hand on Shelby's, see if she's okay, but she's kind of afraid to, so she just spends the rest of the performance looking back and forth between the two.

Suffice it to say, McKinley High wins first place in the competition.


	9. Chapter 9

**Title:** Kiss and Tell (Loose Lips Sink Ships)  
><strong>Author:<strong> texaswatermelon  
><strong>Fandom:<strong> Glee  
><strong>Pairing:<strong> Quinn/Shelby, eventual Quinn/Brittany, eventual Rachel/Santana  
><strong>Rating:<strong> R, for language and possible adult situations  
><strong>Summary:<strong> _Most people in Vocal Adrenaline tend to feel one of two ways about Shelby Corcoran: they either loathe her with all the fire of a thousand of Carmel High's stage lights, or they possess some amount of sickening admiration for her. Quinn is really a mix of these two extremes._  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Glee is property of Ryan Murphy Television and 20th Century Fox. All characters, places, and recognizable names herein have been borrowed for the use of this fanfiction. Title from "XO" by Fall Out Boy. This story is a work of fiction and is in no way affiliated with the aforementioned groups. No infringement intended.  
><strong>AN: **AU Quinn has always gone to Carmel school district, so none of her storyline from Glee applies. This takes place during the same year as season 1 of Glee, so just assume spoilers for all episodes. On the WMHS side of things, there will be an OC who will replace Quinn and take over her whole plot. Assume that everything follows cannon over there unless otherwise mentioned in the story. As far as Vocal Adrenalin goes, I'll be mentioning some real characters and some OC characters, so don't get confused there. If anything is unclear, just ask and I'll try my best to Windex that shit. Unbeta'd; all mistakes are my own.  
><strong>Warnings:<strong> This story deals with issues of alcoholism, abuse of prescription medication, neglect, minor instances of child abuse, student/teacher relationships, sexual relations with a minor, and of course femslash. Now, as far as I know, the legal age of consent in Ohio is 16, but it's still pretty taboo; we're talking about a relationship between a sixteen-year-old and a woman in her mid thirties, so. If any of that stuff is a bother to you, I would suggest finding something else to read. Also, angst. So, that being said, please enjoy.

Hey everyone. Thank you for patiently awaiting this update, and an especially huge thanks to everyone who put this story on their favorites/alters and reviewed. You guys are amazing. I know a lot of you are eagerly awaiting one of two things: sex, and the New Directions crew. I promise you that these are both coming, although one is definitely coming sooner than the other (pun absolutely intended). Just hang on for me and we'll get there.

I also just want to say that if any of you are in need of a beta reader, I would like to humbly offer my services. I have a great deal of time on my hands over the summer and would like to use it to help rectify the abysmal state of fanfiction on this website in any way possible. If you're reading this story, then you already know what my writing abilities are like and you know that I at least have a decent grasp of the English language. If you want to take a look, I do have a beta reader profile here on FF.N for your viewing pleasure, which you can access at my profile. Otherwise, feel free to PM me with any questions/comments/requests and we'll see what happens from there. The only thing I'll say is this: do not ask me to beta for you if you don't want an honest opinion on your piece. I'm not here to be nice to you; I'm here to help you make your story be the best it can possibly be. Of course I won't be _mean_; I'll just be honest. Sometimes they seem like the same thing.

So that's that, and I hope you all enjoy this chapter and please feel free to review because I love you guys and hearing from you fills my heart with rainbows and unicorns.

* * *

><p>The car ride home is possibly the most awkward situation ever. Even Jesse can't seem to make decent conversation, and after the first fifteen minutes of trying, he gives up altogether and turns on the radio. Dustin is still curled up against the window with Quinn's iPod, but this time Quinn stays on her side of the car and doesn't even think about moving to the middle for several different reasons. She is genuinely concerned for Shelby, who has barely said a single word since the McKinley High performance. She has some kind of death grip on the steering wheel and her eyes are staring so blankly ahead that Quinn wonders if she's actually even seeing anything. Quinn doesn't have any reasonable explanation for what they saw at sectionals or for Shelby's reaction to it, but she knows that something is up. She just has no idea how the hell she's supposed to address it, or if she even should.<p>

When they get back to Carmel, Quinn tells Shelby that she'd like to go visit her mom.

"I can take her," Jesse offers immediately, and Quinn agrees that that would be fine; so when Shelby stops at Jesse's house, Quinn gets out with him and they drive to Judy's. "What do you think is up with Shelby?" he asks on the way.

"I don't know," Quinn says with a shrug.

"And who was that girl?" Jesse continues as though he didn't hear her.

"I don't know," she says again, quietly. She's thankful when they finally pull up outside of her house. "Do you want to come in?"

"No, it's fine," Jesse says, and Quinn is thankful for that, too. "Just text me when you're done."

The TV is off, which should be Quinn's first indication that something is up when she walks into her old house. Quinn walks cautiously toward the couch and nearly dies of shock when she finds her mother half propped up against a bunch of pillows, reading a damn book. There is a glass of something that looks suspiciously like ice water sitting on the coffee table. There's not a single pill or liquor bottle in sight.

Judy looks up when Quinn approaches and flashes her a wide smile. She looks so tired; her skin is incredibly sallow and the circles around her eyes are so dark they look like bruises. She's thinner than ever, but she is, without a doubt, sober.

"Mom?" Quinn whispers as though she's not really sure.

"Hi Quinnie," Judy says, marking her spot in the book and setting it aside.

"Mom, what—I don't… understand…"

Judy looks somewhat sheepish. "I've been working on some things," she explains vaguely. "Sit down, Quinnie. How are you? You had your competition yesterday, didn't you?"

"I—yeah," Quinn replies dazedly, dropping down onto the coffee table. She doesn't even know how the hell Judy knows about that because Quinn hasn't been around for a while and she doesn't remember mentioning it.

"Well, how was it? Did you win? How was your solo? I bet you were fantastic. Is there a recording of it?"

Quinn sits there with her mouth hanging open like a fish, completely speechless. She can't remember the last time her mother was this lucid _or_ this interested about her life. She tries to respond, but her throat muscles don't seem to work anymore. Judy sees her daughter floundering and sighs.

"I went to the doctor, Quinnie. He told me that if I didn't stop what I was doing right away, I was going to die. I knew I couldn't let that happen when I still have so much of your life to see. It hasn't been very easy, but I've had someone coming over to check up on me every day and I've been seeing a physical therapist. It's still just the beginning and I've got a long way to go before I'm really better, but… I'm trying really hard to become the mother you deserve, Quinnie, so that maybe one day you can come back to me."

Quinn is barely aware of the tears streaming down her face. She reaches out and takes her mother's hand, laughing when Judy smiles at her and swiping at the tears under her eyes.

"So," Judy says once they've both got their emotions in check, "tell me about the competition."

They talk for over an hour before Quinn finally calls Jesse to come get her. When she gets home, she bounds into the living room to tell Shelby what happened. Instead she finds Shelby passed out on the couch, a half-empty wine glass on the table. Quinn takes the glass to the kitchen, washes it, and then goes to her room and doesn't come out for the rest of the night.

xx

For three days Shelby walks around in a haze, ignoring pretty much everyone and everything. She knows that this is her fault; she knew exactly what she was doing when she decided to stick around and watch the second day of sections performances. She knew that Rachel went to McKinley High and that she was a part of the glee club there. She knew that she would be coming face to face with the one thing that's plagued her mind endlessly for the last sixteen years.

What she didn't know was that Rachel would be beautiful and captivating and perfect and _her_. She didn't know that looking at Rachel would be like looking into a fucking mirror, or that Rachel's voice would make her heart shatter into a million pieces. She didn't know that she would regret just about every decision she's ever made so much after just one glance at her daughter.

She and Quinn have barely spoken since sectionals, apart from the necessary, unavoidable things. There's a part of Shelby that feels awful about this, especially after she woke up on Sunday afternoon on the couch with a blanket lain over her and her wine glass washed and put away. She wants to ask Quinn about the visit with her mother; she wants to hug her and apologize for being so distant and let Quinn kiss her until she forgets everything, but every time she thinks about it she imagines Quinn asking questions about Rachel. That's not really a conversation she wants to have with anyone, ever—especially Quinn, whose life is already complicated enough thanks to her without throwing Shelby's long-lost adopted daughter into the mix.

Now that Shelby has seen her, now that Shelby knows that Rachel is the epitome of everything that she could have ever wanted in a daughter that she now can't have, she can't forget. She can't stop thinking about having Rachel in her life, getting to know her, coaching her to use that incredible voice she has to propel her to a greatness that Shelby herself could never achieve.

Unfortunately, she also can't forget the legal and binding contract she signed stating that she would under no circumstance contact Rachel unless the girl came to her first. At the time, she thought it wouldn't matter. At the time she thought that she would take the money she got from having Rachel and use it to help support a long and healthy career on Broadway, and that she would be completely happy and fulfilled for at least the next eighteen years until it was time for her to take a well-deserved break and see what her daughter was like. At the time, she was naïve enough to believe that giving up her baby wouldn't leave a giant, gaping hole in her chest that no amount of stardom would have ever filled even if she'd achieved it.

It's a Thursday, when she sees Andrea and her minions fawning over Jesse during practice, that she gets the idea. It's not that she's really even looking for an idea, honestly, because she's already convinced herself that she's just going to have to wait out the next two very long years until Rachel turns eighteen to even speak to her daughter. But she sees Jesse and she remembers that the only thing she ever wanted when she was in high school—besides her inevitable stardom—was a man that could keep up with her vocally and emotionally. There really weren't any of those in her high school, but she suddenly thinks that if Rachel is anything like Shelby was at sixteen, maybe getting Rachel into her life won't take as long as she thought after all.

After practice, Quinn comes over to her as usual and Shelby shoots her a distracted smile.

"I'll be with you in just a second. I need to talk to Jesse first," she says quickly. Quinn just nods and takes the keys that Shelby offers her. Shelby mentally kicks herself for being such an ass and calls out to her before she leaves. "Maybe… maybe we can go out for dinner after this, or something," she offers hopefully. Quinn looks unsure, so Shelby smiles to show that she means well and eventually Quinn grins back.

"Yeah, okay. That would be nice."

As soon as Quinn is gone, Shelby calls Jesse over and drags him away where no one will hear them.

"You remember that girl we saw perform at sectionals this weekend?" she asks without preamble.

"Oh thank God," Jesse breathes and Shelby raises an eyebrow at him. "I thought we were never going to talk about this. I've been dying of suspense all week."

Shelby ignores his dramatics. "Her name is Rachel Berry. She's my daughter." Jesse's face is appropriately slack-jawed and for once in his life he doesn't appear to have any response, so Shelby continues. "I don't really want to get into it right now, but I was a surrogate for her fathers and I'm not able to contact her; I didn't even really want to until I saw her this weekend, but… I need your help. I need you to go find her, get to know her. Get her to trust you and be your friend."

"Why should I do this, exactly?" Jesse asks finally, looking incredibly confused. Shelby can't believe she never realized how idiotic he is.

"It'll be great acting experience," she says impatiently, but it seems to be enough for him because his face lights up immediately. "Look, just act like you're interested after you saw her at sectionals. Don't mention anything to her about me, or to anyone for that matter. Use your talent to impress her, and the minute she mentions anything about her mother, you tell me." Jesse is nodding eagerly at her, so Shelby sighs. "Okay, good. Just find her. Do it sometime next week. And do not mention this to _anyone_, not Rachel and _especially_ not Quinn. We'll talk later, after you've made contact."

She waves him away because she can already see the wheels turning in that slimy head of his and wonders if she maybe just made an awful decision subjecting her daughter to Jesse St. James, but it doesn't matter now. She can't wait two years before seeing Rachel again, before talking to her. Unfortunately, Jesse is the only person she can count on to get the job done.

Quinn has the radio on and is singing along to "Just Like Heaven" when Shelby gets to the car. She smiles sheepishly when Shelby laughs at her and turns the radio down.

"So where do you want to go for dinner?" Shelby asks as she starts the ignition and pulls out of the parking lot.

"Actually," Quinn says, picking at her fingernails anxiously, "I was thinking maybe we could just go home and catch up."

Shelby gives her a sideways glance and sees her trying not to look too hopeful. "That sounds perfect," she agrees, and Quinn flashes her a shy smile.

When they get home, Shelby makes pasta and Quinn helps prepare garlic bread while she talks all about her visit with Judy over the weekend and how excited she is that her mom is finally trying to get better. Shelby tells her that she's happy for her and asks about Dustin, which Quinn admits is still weird and strained. After dinner they curl up on the couch and watch _American Idol_ together, but halfway through Quinn kisses her and they end up making out for the rest of the episode before going to bed, but at least things seem like they're mostly back to normal for now.

xx

Quinn's week is less than spectacular. She goes to school on Monday so full of conflicting emotions that she feels like her whole body is trying to split itself in half and she can't concentrate on anything. And the only person who she really has to talk to about it isn't really talking to her and won't tell her why.

She tries feeling Dustin out when she gets to homeroom on Monday morning, hoping that maybe he's worked out whatever had him so pissed off over the weekend. She sends him the sweetest smile she can muster when she catches his eye—which was almost impossible—but his responding grimace is answer enough. Dustin has never been very good at being mad at people; it's clear now that he's not even really mad at her so much as just trying to avoid her altogether. Quinn tries to strike up a conversation in the hopes of warming him up: "Hi, how was the rest of your weekend?" His uncommitted shrug is enough to let her know that they apparently aren't going to kiss and make up right away. Quinn just wishes she knew what she did wrong.

The other part of Quinn's life—the part that is all Shelby all the time—is just as depressing. Quinn knows for a fact that _Shelby_ isn't mad at her, but the two of them are speaking about as much as she and Dustin are and it's kind of frustrating. Seeing that girl sing at sectionals obviously shook Shelby up, but Quinn doesn't fucking understand why and Shelby isn't talking about it. Actually, Shelby isn't talking about much of anything this week, so Quinn spends the majority of her days in silence except for lunch and glee.

Finally, _finally_ on Thursday Shelby snaps out of her haze and asks Quinn if she'd like to go out to dinner. Quinn's not sure if she should be excited about this or not, but then Shelby flashes this smile that Quinn is almost positive was meant to be reassuring, but it ends up sending a jolt straight through Quinn's gut that has her asking if they can just have dinner at home instead.

By the end of the night Shelby's tongue is sweeping its way across the inside of Quinn's mouth.

It's the only thing that Quinn has understood all week.

xx

Now that one part of her life is back to its usual state of absurd, Quinn feels that it's way past time for the other part of her life to be as well. Dustin has been the only real thing in her life for so long that Quinn is simply unwilling to allow this rift between them to linger any longer. She doesn't care what his problem is; she's going to fix what's wrong between them and she's going to do it immediately.

She spends all of Friday thinking about how she's going to approach this. She remembers what Shelby said about him being jealous of her and Jesse and figures that Shelby is probably right. All of this started after the drive to sectionals, during which Quinn flirted shamelessly with Jesse in order to distract him while she flirted more discreetly with Shelby. Luckily, since she and Jesse aren't actually together and never, _ever_ will be, this should be an easy fix. Quinn just needs to explain to him that she understands his concerns, but that Jesse St. James is not and will never be a factor between them. She decides to do it after glee, that way they can have the whole weekend to catch up and be friends again.

"Hey, can I talk to you for a second?" she asks, catching him by the elbow as he walks by her on his way out the door. Pretty much everyone else has filed out by now. Shelby is having a conversation with two of the guys down in the pit. Dustin steps back away from her and shoves his hands into his pockets.

"Sure," he agrees finally, looking mostly at the floor.

Quinn sighs and plays with the bottom of her shirt. "Look, regardless of how many times you deny it, I know there's something going on between us. You're mad at me and since I can't really think of anything I may have said or done to make you mad, the only thing I can figure is that you're jealous."

Dustin looks up abruptly and just kind of gapes at her, so she takes that as an affirmation of her theory.

"It's okay. I mean, I realize now that it may have seemed like something's going on between Jesse and me this weekend, but Dustin I can promise you that I am not even remotely interested in Jesse St. James." Quinn makes a disgusted face as she thinks about it. "Actually, that's so far from the realm of possibility I can't even imagine it."

Dustin's whole face is scrunched into a frown, and all he says is, "Jesse?"

"Yeah," Quinn says. "Nothing is going on between us, so can you please stop being mad at me now?"

She doesn't expect it when he scoffs; expects it even less when he shakes his head and laughs humorlessly.

"I can't believe you. Fucking Jesse St. James. You are so full of shit."

Quinn feels like she's been slapped and actually stumbles back a step. He's never sworn at her before. Ever.

"Dustin, I swear—"

He cuts her off. "You know what, Quinn? Not everything in my life is about you. I know you may be confused by that concept because I've been stupid enough to let you _think_ that it is, but it's not. Did it ever occur to you that if I'm not really speaking to you it's because I just don't actually want to talk to you?" Quinn just stares at him and tries to swallow past her swollen throat muscles. Dustin actually sneers at her. "I didn't think so. Get over yourself, Quinn. I have."

Quinn doesn't move—doesn't even see him walking away through the tears that have clouded her eyes. She stands there, motionless for some indeterminable amount of time until she feels someone's hand on her shoulder, turning her around. She falls into Shelby's body and sobs so harshly that it echoes off the walls of the auditorium. Shelby wraps one arm around Quinn's shoulders and pulls her tightly against her while stroking Quinn's hair with her other hand. Quinn fists her hands into the back of Shelby's shirt and cries herself out.

When she finally feels like she can breathe again, she lifts her head from Shelby's chest and looks up into concerned brown eyes. Shelby's hands move up and brush away the tears still falling on Quinn's cheeks. Quinn's response is a shuddering sigh as she turns her head to kiss one of the palms resting on her cheek. Shelby's expression is inscrutable, so Quinn tilts her head up and kisses her softly for a few seconds. It's not until Shelby pushes gently against her shoulder that she remembers where they are. Shelby doesn't look upset; she just smiles gently and tucks Quinn's hair behind her ear.

Quinn gives her a watery smile in return until she sees movement over her Shelby's shoulder. Her eyes connect with Andrea's and she feels her stomach twist violently at the girl's smirk.

"What's wrong?" Shelby asks, frowning when Quinn practically jumps away to put more space between them, but Andrea is already gone.

"Nothing. Nothing, I—I forgot something in my locker. I'll uh, meet you in the car."

She sprints away before Shelby can reply, out the side of the auditorium and down the hall where she sees a head of dark hair disappearing around the corner. She yells Andrea's name when she rounds it and Andrea stops in her tracks and turns around with a smug smile and hands on her hips. Quinn pulls up short just in front of her.

"Well, well, Fabray. I never would have taken you for a grave robber. At least I finally know how you managed to get that solo for sectionals."

"Andrea," Quinn starts, but she really doesn't know how to even begin digging herself out of this mess.

"Hmm, I wonder what Principal Elliott would think about this development," Andrea continues, tapping a finger against her chin mockingly.

Quinn feels all the blood drain from her face in an instant. "Please don't," she begs quietly. She doesn't care that this is probably exactly what Andrea was hoping for. She'll get on her knees if she has to. "You won't be hurting me if you tell. You'll only be hurting Shelby. You'll destroy her life."

"No, _you'll_ destroy her life, just like you destroy everyone's with your existence," Andrea snaps, suddenly angry. Quinn knows what this is about. This is about her taking a solo from Andrea. This is about Andrea thinking that it's _Quinn's_ fault that she and her friends got disqualified from sectionals. Quinn doesn't care about any of that. She just wants to know that Shelby will be safe.

"Please, just tell me what you want in order to keep quiet," Quinn pleads.

Andrea answers immediately. "Quit Vocal Adrenaline."

Quinn balks. On one hand, she can't believe it's that easy. On the other hand, this is probably the worst thing that Andrea could have demanded of her. Vocal Adrenaline is her whole life. It's where she spends all of her time. It's where her friends are; it's where Shelby is. It's the one thing that makes her feel good about herself, like her life isn't going to fall apart at any second. Andrea must know this, of course. That's part of why she's demanding it.

"Fine," Quinn says evenly. Andrea doesn't seem to be expecting her to relent so easily if the look on her face is any indication. She huffs lightly and shakes her head in disbelief.

"My God," she says, and her tone is half disgust, half wonder, "you're actually in love with her, aren't you?"

Quinn doesn't answer that because it's a question she's been considering pretty seriously lately and one that she doesn't quite know the answer to you. Even if she does love Shelby, she'll be goddamned if the first person she admits it to is Andrea fucking Cohen. So instead she scoffs.

"Don't pretend like you know the first thing about love, Andrea."

"Oh and you do?" Andrea retorts. "Your own mother loves a pill bottle more than she loves you."

Quinn actually finds it in her to smirk at this. "My mother is getting help for her problems. What excuse do your parents have? How many competitions, invitationals, or concerts have they shown up to?" Andrea's silence is answer enough. "My mother _always_ loved me, even when she was too sick to really show it. And by the way, it's really fucking pathetic that you have to resort to blackmail just to get your perceived competition out of the way because you're too lazy and insecure to actually _work_ for something," Quinn snipes, watching Andrea's face contort involuntarily. "I'll tell Shelby I quit this weekend, but from now on you leave me alone. Don't talk to me, don't talk about me, don't even look at me. And don't you dare tell anyone what you saw. Stay the hell away from me."

When they get home, Quinn tells Shelby that she wants to quit glee. She cites a lame excuse about having too much work to do for school and falling behind in her classes. Shelby seems to dumbstruck to really even argue, so Quinn just goes to her room afterwards and tries to figure out what she ever did to deserve every possible thing in her life going to shit while she wills herself not to cry.


	10. Chapter 10

**Title: **Kiss and Tell (Loose Lips Sink Ships)  
><strong>Author: <strong>texaswatermelon  
><strong>Fandom:<strong> Glee  
><strong>Pairing:<strong> Quinn/Shelby, eventual Quinn/Brittany, eventual Rachel/Santana  
><strong>Rating:<strong> R, for language and possible adult situations  
><strong>Summary:<strong> _Most people in Vocal Adrenaline tend to feel one of two ways about Shelby Corcoran: they either loathe her with all the fire of a thousand of Carmel High's stage lights, or they possess some amount of sickening admiration for her. Quinn is really a mix of these two extremes._  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Glee is property of Ryan Murphy Television and 20th Century Fox. All characters, places, and recognizable names herein have been borrowed for the use of this fanfiction. Title from "XO" by Fall Out Boy. This story is a work of fiction and is in no way affiliated with the aforementioned groups. No infringement intended.  
><strong>AN: **AU Quinn has always gone to Carmel school district, so none of her storyline from Glee applies. This takes place during the same year as season 1 of Glee, so just assume spoilers for all episodes. On the WMHS side of things, there will be an OC who will replace Quinn and take over her whole plot. Assume that everything follows cannon over there unless otherwise mentioned in the story. As far as Vocal Adrenalin goes, I'll be mentioning some real characters and some OC characters, so don't get confused there. If anything is unclear, just ask and I'll try my best to Windex that shit. Unbeta'd; all mistakes are my own.  
><strong>Warnings:<strong> This story deals with issues of alcoholism, abuse of prescription medication, neglect, minor instances of child abuse, student/teacher relationships, sexual relations with a minor, and of course femslash. Now, as far as I know, the legal age of consent in Ohio is 16, but it's still pretty taboo; we're talking about a relationship between a sixteen-year-old and a woman in her mid thirties, so. If any of that stuff is a bother to you, I would suggest finding something else to read. Also, angst. So, that being said, please enjoy.

**Dear god I hope you guys weren't expecting anything quality from this chapter. This will probably seem ridiculous, but it's taken long enough that I think it deserves its own chapter. This one is definitely rated NC-17.**

**Thank you all for your patience and for your reviews/favorites/alerts as usual. I hope this chapter gives you at least one of the things you've been waiting for.**

* * *

><p>She ends up spending almost her entire week in the library. Since she still lives with Shelby, she has to wait for her after school, and it's just a little too painful to sit in the auditorium and watch the glee club carry on without her as though she were never even there in the first place. She can't stand the sight of Andrea taking solos that Quinn might have gotten with that self-satisfied smirk; can't deal with everyone else's confused looks, least of all Shelby's, and she definitely can't handle the sight of Dustin not giving even half a shit that she's no longer practicing with them. So instead she waits around in the library getting an entire week's worth of homework done in one sitting and still having time left over to sit around and brood.<p>

When Shelby appears at Quinn's door on Thursday, Quinn only half expects it. She's barely come out of her room since she quit Vocal Adrenaline and whether she didn't actually believe the resignation or she just didn't know how to handle the situation, Shelby pretty much let her go. Now that it's been almost a week, it seems that Shelby has decided to confront her about it. She is wearing a look of determination and Quinn's head starts pounding in anticipation of the argument that's about to occur.

"Quinn, I want to talk about this," Shelby states, and her voice is full of an authority that reminds Quinn sickeningly of just what their situation actually is.

"There's nothing to talk about," she mutters, refusing to look at Shelby as she angrily jots down answers to her Spanish homework.

Shelby puts her hand on her hip; she can see it from the corner of her eye.

"Quinn, you've been doing Vocal Adrenaline for over a year. You love it, and you've never complained about time constraints before. You were doing fine just a couple of days ago and now all of a sudden you have too much work? It doesn't make sense."

"What doesn't make sense?" Quinn asks. She's still staring at her homework, but she's stopped writing things down. She can't concentrate enough to make sure her answers are correct. "Just because you're not handing out work, doesn't mean that other teachers aren't. Plus, I've been doing bad in chemistry all year and if I don't start focusing on it more, I'm going to fail."

That part is probably truer than Quinn likes to admit.

Shelby sighs. "Quinn, you're a smart girl. I know this isn't about schoolwork. If you would just tell me what the real problem is, I can help you work it out," she prods.

Quinn can feel herself losing patience. Why can't Shelby just accept what Quinn's telling her and let it go? Why does she have to be so concerned that it makes Quinn's heart hurt? Why can't she just understand that Quinn is doing this for her, to protect her from this mess she's gotten Shelby into?

"Quinn—"

"I said I don't have time, alright? Fucking drop it!"

In the silence that follows, Quinn finally looks at Shelby, who looks like Quinn has just slapped her across the face. The pure shock quickly turns into a mix of other emotions: anger, confusion… It's the deep-seeded hurt that really does Quinn's head in. She looks down again because she can't bear to see it, can't bear to know that she's hurting Shelby again. She's also afraid of the recoil because she's sure she's not going to get away with this. Shelby doesn't take shit, not even from Quinn. She's waiting tensely for Shelby to start yelling, to slap her even. She knows she deserves it. When the bed dips beside her with Shelby's weight, Quinn waits for her punishment to come with all the resignation of a prisoner on death row.

It never comes.

Instead of lashing out with anger, Shelby's hand reaches out and touches Quinn's cheek gently. Quinn is so surprised that she can't help looking up, can't keep the confusion from her eyes when she sees Shelby's soft expression. It makes her heart race and her face flush.

Shelby leans toward her and presses a short kiss, then another to her lips as though she's hesitant and unsure. Something must yield within her, though because then she's kissing Quinn properly, sliding their lips together in a way that makes Quinn's head spin and slipping her tongue out to taste the inside of Quinn's mouth. When she pulls away, Quinn's eyes flutter open slowly and her chest clenches in a way that has nothing to do with Andrea Cohen or quitting Vocal Adrenaline or the anxiety of getting caught. Shelby has never kissed her before. Kissed her back, yes, but she never actually initiated a single one of the kisses they've shared.

Shelby seems to recognize the realization on Quinn's face, and there's a grim sort of apology in her expression and the way she leans forward and captures Quinn's lips again; leads them for the first time since they started this whole thing. Quinn feels so much affection swell within her that she feels her throat close up with emotion. She lies back against the pillows and wills herself not to cry when Shelby follows her, because she's sure that will put a stop to whatever fragile dimension they've fallen into. But Shelby seems to have made a decision for the both of them because she pulls back to look at Quinn and there's something in her eyes that Quinn can't decipher, but it makes a low heat settle in her belly. She thinks she knows where this is going to lead, but she's afraid to even think it lest some cosmic force decides to ruin this for her.

Shelby's hands are wandering a slow path up and down Quinn's sides while her lips stray from Quinn's mouth, down her jaw in slow, open-mouthed kisses. Already, Quinn can hardly breathe. Her eyes flutter shut as the heat of Shelby's kisses burns a path down her throat. Cold hands find their way under Quinn's top and she shivers momentarily as she adjusts to the sensation. Shelby nips at the skin of her collarbone in apology and Quinn gasps. Every nerve ending is on fire. She is hyper aware of every place where Shelby's body is touching hers, and even more aware of every place it isn't.

Her shirt has now been pushed up to her bra and Shelby pulls her head away just enough to look at her. Quinn's eyes are glazed and darkened to green. Shelby can decipher nothing but lust there, but she has to know that every step they take is okay and approved by Quinn. Quinn seems to notice that something has changed and she tries to focus on Shelby, on the question that Shelby's body is asking because she can't bring herself to voice it. Quinn sits up a little, removes her hands from where they were resting on Shelby's back and puts them over Shelby's hands, helps her glide the shirt up and over Quinn's head.

Quinn can't hide the shiver that rolls through her body as Shelby's eyes rake over her. Shelby's cheeks are tinted with a slight flush. She looks like she really doesn't want to be checking Quinn out, but she can't help herself. Quinn hides her triumphant grin and places Shelby's hands on her sides so she knows it's okay to touch. More than okay. Quinn is sure she will die if Shelby doesn't keep touching her.

They lay back down again and Shelby lets herself get comfortable in kissing Quinn once more. Her hands are roaming with more purpose this time and Quinn's breath hitches when one of them brushes the side of her breast. Shelby takes this as encouragement and goes bolder, running her entire palm over Quinn's left breast, squeezing lightly. Quinn moans appreciatively and Shelby's eyes dart up almost immediately to meet hers, darkening visibly. She suddenly very unsatisfied with the amount of clothing between them and she tugs at Shelby's shirt, tossing it aside carelessly when it comes off. She runs her hands all over the smooth expanse of Shelby's back. Shelby arches into her like a cat, a soft sigh escaping her lips. Quinn wonders how long it's been since Shelby has let anyone touch her like this. She thanks every god in existence that she's the one who gets to do it now.

Shelby's lips are burning trails down her throat again, venturing past her clavicle and over her chest. Quinn tangles her fingers in the silky mass of dark hair and Shelby takes her time, kissing slowly over every patch of skin she can find while her hand gently eases one bra strap down Quinn's arm, then the other. By the time Shelby's mouth reaches the swell of her breasts, Quinn can barely stand it anymore. She reaches behind herself to unhook her own bra, but Shelby stills her hands. Quinn looks at her in confusion, but Shelby's expression is so intense that she can't find the words to say anything.

"Let me," Shelby whispers, eyes leaden with decisiveness. Quinn can just barely grasp how important the decision is, that Shelby is choosing to actively undress her rather than just sit by while Quinn does it for her. The thought alone sends a flood of heat to her center and she has to bite back a heavy moan as she nods and sits up fully this time.

The hands aren't cold anymore as they brush across her back and find the clasp of her bra. Shelby's eyes stay locked with hers the entire time. Her bra makes a soft sound in the dead silence of the room as it comes undone and falls away from her chest. Shelby continues to stare at her face and Quinn feels nervousness rise up like bile inside of her. If Shelby takes this step, acts on this revelation, there's no turning back. What if she doesn't like what she sees? What if the youth of Quinn's body makes her realize once and for all what a mistake she's making?

Shelby seems to be considering these things as well. She stares at Quinn as though she's trying to find the courage to go forward, but all Quinn can do is look back. As much as she hates it, Shelby has to make this decision on her own.

Finally, her eyes drop and widen like a child who's just met Santa Claus for the first time as they take in the sight of Quinn's exposed chest. Quinn feels herself flush at the attention, but she doesn't shy away. No one has ever seen this much of her before, but if anyone is going to treat her with respect and care, it will be Shelby. As if drawn by a magnet, one of Shelby's hands reaches out to cup Quinn's breast—to test it in her hand, to run a thumb over the rosy nipple there. Quinn arches slightly and exhales in a rush of hot breath as she watches Shelby explore her body.

"Beautiful," Shelby murmurs, her voice thick, and when her eyes lock with Quinn's again, Quinn swears she sees tears behind them.

She crushes their lips together because tears aren't what either of them needs now.

There's a new desperation to their kisses that wasn't there before as Shelby's hands are content to explore Quinn's breasts without hesitation now, though still gentle and still achingly slow. Quinn pulls at Shelby's hips, urging her closer. She needs more contact like she needs air, needs to feel the weight of Shelby's body on top of her. Her hands fumble with Shelby's bra in her haste to get rid of it. She flings it across the room like it's some sort of rodent when she finally gets it off and Shelby's moan rockets through her body like nothing she's ever felt when their naked breasts collide together.

It's Quinn's turn to explore now as she licks her way across Shelby's strong jaw and down the hollow of her throat. Every noise that comes out of Shelby's mouth is like a shot of pure heroine that goes straight to Quinn's gut. She has no idea what she's doing, but she lets Shelby's hands and body guide her, lets her tongue revel in the taste of skin that she never though she'd even see, let alone taste. Shelby tastes like coffee and other things that Quinn tries to decipher with each swipe of her tongue: broken promises, regret, loneliness, hope. Quinn reaches Shelby's breasts and doesn't stop, wraps her lips around a dark nipple and revels in the feel of it hardening between her teeth. It makes her so incredibly wet to know that she can make Shelby react like this.

Shelby tugs gently at her scalp, brings her hungry mouth back up for a kiss, slows their pace again, even though it's reluctant. It's frustrating, but Quinn knows that Shelby is just trying to be careful with her, maybe for both of them, and she's grateful in the end because she'll never forgive herself if she rushes through this.

They lie down again and Shelby rests on top of Quinn while her fingers undo the button of the girl's jeans and her languid kisses make Quinn feel like they've got all the time in the world. Maybe they have, for now.

Shelby's hands hook into the waistband of her jeans and begin to work them slowly down her hips. "Underwear, too," Quinn croaks, because she doesn't want this to take _too_ long, and forever can only last for so long before she spontaneously combusts. She's still a teenager, after all. Her hormones don't have that kind of longevity.

After a quick glance at Quinn to make sure, Shelby obliges and takes her underwear and jeans in one trip, staring in open lust at what's revealed.

It suddenly dawns on Quinn as Shelby appreciates her whole naked body that this is happening. Shelby is going to make love to her, take her, claim her. She feels a little nervous at that fact. She's never done this before, and while she's pretty sure she has a good idea of how it works, she is a little afraid she won't be good at it. She feels the need to be reassured. She puts her hand on Shelby's cheek, whispers her name and instantly feels better when brown eyes meet her own. She knows Shelby knows. Shelby always knows.

Shelby manages to school her 'I'm going to devour you' expression in favor of a softer one as she leans down and kisses Quinn gently, stroking her cheek as though they hadn't just been seconds away from fucking.

"Just tell me if it's too much," Shelby whispers against her lips. Quinn shakes her head. Of course it's too much. It's been too much since the moment they first kissed, but it's still not enough and she wants it so badly.

"I want this," she says, and her voice doesn't sound like it belongs to her. She grips Shelby's cheek with one hand and her waist with the other, willing Shelby to understand just how much she needs this. "God, I want you so much," she chokes, and Shelby looks like she's been stabbed at the admission. Her face contorts with a sort of pain that Quinn think is so beautiful and she can't breathe for the vice it puts on her heart, but then Shelby is kissing her so hard and it doesn't matter anyway.

Somehow they manage to get Shelby's pants off and the feel of her whole body against Quinn's is like nothing Quinn could have ever imagined. Shelby is thin and soft, and Quinn runs her nails down Shelby's back, across the swell of her ass and back up again. Their hands are everywhere, but Shelby's have a definite destination in mind as one hand skates over Quinn's quivering stomach and through a patch of soft curls. Shelby thanks God that Quinn doesn't shave; she doesn't need any more reminders of the girl's age.

Quinn bucks her hips slightly at the feel of Shelby's fingers running through her slick folds. Shelby watches her intently for any sign of discomfort or doubt, but all she sees is Quinn's eyes fluttering closed as she rubs teasingly against her clit. Quinn moves her hips, seeking contact and moaning loudly when she gets it. Shelby watches every expression that crosses her face with intense fascination, feels every moan and sigh reverberate deep inside of her. She hasn't been this turned on in a long time and she knows she should feel bad about this, but she can't. Not when Quinn is flushed and panting and gorgeous beneath her.

When Shelby finally pushes one finger inside of her, Quinn goes rigid and her eyes squeeze shut against the intrusion. Shelby's reaction is similar; her head falls onto Quinn's shoulder and her eyes close and she breathes a pained sigh at the feeling of Quinn _so tight_ around her. Quinn whimpers when Shelby removes the finger, and again even louder when she returns it, even deeper this time. Shelby wishes there was a way that she could make this easier for Quinn. She remembers her own first time in the back seat of Jimmy Simm's car and how he wasn't careful or gentle, how he shoved himself inside of her and didn't give her a chance to adjust before he was pounding in and out, how he didn't even notice her crying at the pain. Quinn isn't crying, but she's taking sharp breaths and Shelby knows it still hurts, even if her fingers are slim and careful.

After a few more thrusts, Quinn starts pushing back, meeting Shelby's hand, and her eyes are open and bright as they establish a steady rhythm. Shelby tries to watch the place where her hand meets Quinn, where it disappears inside of her, but that gets to be too overwhelming, so she settles for watching Quinn's face instead. Quinn is biting her lip like she's concentrating really hard and her brow is furrowed. She tries to keep looking at Shelby, but her eyes keep slipping behind their lids rapidly. When Shelby adds another finger Quinn makes a strangled sound in the back of her throat and her nails dig into the skin of Shelby's back. Shelby moans quietly and drops her head back to Quinn's shoulder, pushes harder and faster and drinks in every whimper out of Quinn's mouth. Her body burns with the feeling of it all, with the knowledge that she's wanted to do this for longer than she cares to admit, and the flood between her legs is almost embarrassing.

Quinn's cries get more consistent, closer together, louder and more desperate. Her hips buck wildly trying to meet each thrust and Shelby has to wrap her free hand around Quinn's waist to keep her steady. Her body is slick with sweat and impossibly flushed, and Shelby could watch this forever, but she knows she should end it soon for Quinn's sake. She kisses Quinn because it feels like years since she's last done it and presses her thumb against a swollen clit. Quinn bites Shelby's lip in reaction, hard, but Shelby keeps kissing her, keeps pressing, keeps applying a relentless pressure everywhere she possibly can. It's too much for Quinn, the feeling of having Shelby everywhere—in her heart, in her head, and now inside of her body. She shakes so hard when she comes that Shelby has to hold her even tighter.

Shelby can't tear her eyes away from the scene in front of her, from Quinn's eyes screwed shut so tight to her hair splayed out on the pillows behind her, to her mouth open and slack while she pants heavily, to the single tear that's winding its way down the side of her face. Shelby kisses it away as Quinn finally falls limp underneath her.

They lie there for several minutes while Quinn tries to catch her breath and Shelby traces patterns across her stomach and drops kisses onto her shoulder. Quinn sniffles loudly and she hates herself for crying like this when she's just had possibly the best experience of her life. Shelby looks at her, catches another tear with her thumb, and the look in her eyes is almost enough to make Quinn start bawling completely. Shelby loves her. It's written on her face as plainly as if she had said it out loud, though Quinn doubts that she ever will. Maybe she doesn't need her to. Maybe she just needs this.

"You okay?"

Shelby's voice is rough and thick. Quinn nods vehemently because she needs Shelby to know that she's fine with everything that happened and she's just crying because she's stupid and she feels so relieved after everything that's been plaguing her recently.

She tries words. "That was…" She doesn't know how to describe it that won't sound clichéd or stupid, so instead she just whispers, "thank you," and kisses Shelby again. Her thigh finds its way between Shelby's and she can feel the immense slickness there; can't believe it's all because of her. She rolls them over and Shelby lets out a surprised grunt, which makes Quinn grin down at her.

Shelby's body is still hot as Quinn trails her mouth down it. She loves this, loves tasting Shelby, wants to taste more of her. All of her. She sucks on a nipple again, rolls her tongue over it and takes it between her teeth. She shudders at Shelby's responding moan. It's deep and it rips from her throat like she tried to hold it back, but couldn't. Quinn glances up at her through smoky eyes.

"Watch," she breathes, and Shelby forces her eyes open to see Quinn lower her mouth again, keeping their eyes locked the entire time. Shelby is sure that her heart nearly stops before going into total overdrive. Watching Quinn slide down her body, planting kisses across her stomach and over her hips, is almost too much.

She realizes what Quinn is doing too late. When Quinn's tongue makes a broad stroke across her clit, she lets out a broken cry and tangles her fingers through blonde hair. Quinn's fingers are gripping into her hips and her mouth is anything but hesitant. Shelby's approval is _loud_. And still she follows Quinn's order, watches every move even though it's really hard and her head is thrown back half the time in ecstasy.

Quinn feels like this is all she's ever wanted in life. To taste the actual proof of her affect on Shelby, to hear the way that every stroke of her tongue makes Shelby crack even further, to look up and see Shelby's eyes, black and unfocused, watching her… it's almost enough to send Quinn over the edge once more. She has to do this. She needs to bury her tongue inside of Shelby, feel her strong thighs wrapped around her head, hear as her cries get more broken and jagged.

It doesn't take long for Shelby to get close. Her voice is hoarse and her hand is gripping Quinn's hair harshly. Quinn brings her tongue back up to Shelby's clit, sucks on it, runs circles around it. When Shelby breaks, it sounds like a song, and Quinn's name is the only lyric.

Quinn is in her arms by the time she opens her eyes, and she can taste herself on Quinn's tongue when they kiss. Shelby can't believe it even happened, that Quinn would just do that right away. Can't believe that a sixteen-year-old just gave her what was probably the best orgasm of her life. Can't believe she just had sex with Quinn fucking Fabray and that she wants to do it again.

Quinn can see the conflict on Shelby's face. She kisses her again because she knows words will do nothing in this situation. Their mouths tangle slowly. Shelby's breath is still ragged. Quinn shivers as the sweat begins to cool on her body. She pulls the covers over them and settles her body on top of Shelby, smiling when she feels an arm close around her. At least for now, Shelby isn't going to leave.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you," Quinn says after several minutes. Shelby's only response is to kiss the top of her head. Quinn takes a deep breath, inhales Shelby's scent and feels safer than she's ever felt in her life. Later, she'll look back on this moment as the only moment of peace in this whole relationship. For now, she opens her mouth and tells Shelby everything.


	11. Chapter 11

**Title:** Kiss and Tell (Loose Lips Sink Ships)  
><strong>Author:<strong> texaswatermelon  
><strong>Fandom:<strong> Glee  
><strong>Pairing:<strong> Quinn/Shelby, eventual Quinn/Brittany, eventual Rachel/Santana  
><strong>Rating:<strong> R, for language and possible adult situations  
><strong>Summary:<strong> _Most people in Vocal Adrenaline tend to feel one of two ways about Shelby Corcoran: they either loathe her with all the fire of a thousand of Carmel High's stage lights, or they possess some amount of sickening admiration for her. Quinn is really a mix of these two extremes._  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Glee is property of Ryan Murphy Television and 20th Century Fox. All characters, places, and recognizable names herein have been borrowed for the use of this fanfiction. Title from "XO" by Fall Out Boy. This story is a work of fiction and is in no way affiliated with the aforementioned groups. No infringement intended.  
><strong>AN:** AU Quinn has always gone to Carmel school district, so none of her storyline from Glee applies. This takes place during the same year as season 1 of Glee, so just assume spoilers for all episodes. On the WMHS side of things, there will be an OC who will replace Quinn and take over her whole plot. Assume that everything follows cannon over there unless otherwise mentioned in the story. As far as Vocal Adrenalin goes, I'll be mentioning some real characters and some OC characters, so don't get confused there. If anything is unclear, just ask and I'll try my best to Windex that shit. Unbeta'd; all mistakes are my own.  
><strong>Warnings:<strong> This story deals with issues of alcoholism, abuse of prescription medication, neglect, minor instances of child abuse, student/teacher relationships, sexual relations with a minor, and of course femslash. Now, as far as I know, the legal age of consent in Ohio is 16, but it's still pretty taboo; we're talking about a relationship between a sixteen-year-old and a woman in her mid thirties, so. If any of that stuff is a bother to you, I would suggest finding something else to read. Also, angst. So, that being said, please enjoy.

**Oh my god you guys, I suck so bad. I don't even know what to say, other than the fact that I already warned you of my suckiness. And to make matters worse, this is a pretty short chapter, but I'm trying to move the action along here and get things going because I feel like we're dragging. Anyway, things are about to get a little intense, so hopefully you can enjoy this chapter. This one is NSFW.**

**I really want to thank all of you who have taken the time to review or favorite or alert. You are all amazing and you keep me going. I love you guys, seriously, and I apologize for not being worthy of your praise.**

* * *

><p>There are probably worse people out there who could have found out about them than Andrea Cohen, but right now Shelby can't think of very many. She looks down at Quinn snuggled tightly into her side, most of her pale naked body exposed where the sheet slipped down in her sleep. Her soft breasts are pressed into Shelby's stomach, one leg tossed carelessly over both of Shelby's legs, an arm tucked over Shelby's middle and head resting heavily on Shelby's shoulder. Her face is completely relaxed and she looks impossibly young. Shelby pushes that thought down immediately and brushes some of the hair away from Quinn's face. She doesn't want to have to wake Quinn up, but it's early Friday morning; they have to be ready for school in a few hours and they have a few things to discuss beforehand.<p>

She drops a kiss to the top of Quinn's head and runs her nails lightly down her exposed back. Quinn sighs in her sleep and shifts closer to Shelby and away from the sensation. Shelby repeats the motion, following the plane of Quinn's back down to the swell of her ass and back again. Quinn's brow creases as she tries unsuccessfully to squirm away. Shelby smirks at how adorable she looks and continues her actions. Quinn finally groans softly and buries her face into Shelby's shoulder before rolling over and blinking up at her blearily. Shelby can't stop herself from smiling down at Quinn with something close to adoration.

"Hi," she whispers, smoothing Quinn's hair back again.

"Hi," Quinn replies, her voice rough from sleep. Her eyes do a quick sweep of Shelby's body, as if to confirm the fact that what happened earlier was real. Her hand moves slowly from its place at Shelby's hip and trails across her stomach. She watches the muscles there twitch under her touch as she swirls her finger around the belly button and up Shelby's sternum, across her protruding collarbone and down over her right breast, fingernail catching on the nipple slightly and causing Shelby to suck in an involuntary breath. Quinn's eyes flick up to hers with utmost concentration as she scans Shelby's face. Shelby decides that her best course of action is to lean down and kiss Quinn—a real, medium-force kiss like she means it. It's not that she doesn't want to do _that_ with Quinn again—God does she ever—but she feels that there are some things they need to discuss beforehand, the first of them being—

"How do you feel?"

Quinn is still staring at her lips when she pulls away to ask the question and it takes her a few moments to answer.

"I feel fine. A little sore, but…"

Shelby grimaces and tightens her hand on Quinn's hip as if that will make it feel better. "Sorry."

Quinn smiles and tangles her fingers with the ones on Shelby's free hand. "Don't. It's not that bad. I don't regret anything." Shelby just nods. "How do _you_ feel?"

"I feel good. Quinn, you were amazing," Shelby says earnestly, which makes Quinn smirk shyly and blush a little.

"Well that's actually good to know, but I was talking about this whole thing with Andrea." Shelby sighs and looks up at the ceiling while biting the inside of her lip. "Are you mad?"

"Of course I'm not mad, Quinn," Shelby assures her quickly, leveling Quinn with a serious look. "I'm just disappointed—frustrated… I don't really know. This situation is not ideal."

Quinn casts her eyes down to the sheets and picks at some thread there. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have kissed you at school."

Shelby's fingers are under her chin in a second, forcing her to look up. "Stop it. This is not your fault. None of this is," she says forcefully and with unmistakable self-loathing. Quinn pulls away from her a bit.

"Shelby, I'm not helpless. You didn't force me into anything. I wanted this. I pushed for it even when you tried to get me to stop. And I'm the one that kissed you at school where anyone could see. Please stop acting like I'm some poor, confused child with Stockholm syndrome or something that you're just taking advantage of. That's not what this is. It's a relationship. A mutual relationship."

That word alone causes Shelby's heart to stop in its tracks. Her mind is screaming at her to end this now, because a mutual relation is definitely _not_ what this is. It's just not possible for a dependent sixteen-year-old girl to have a mutual relationship with a thirty-four-year-old woman who also happens to be her current guardian and teacher. There is nothing mutual about this at all—not in her eyes and certainly not in the eyes of the law. Quinn's still got two years before she graduates, and even then their lives will be so far apart that Shelby doesn't know how they could manage it even _if_ they survived the next two years sneaking around behind everyone's backs.

Not only is this not what's best for Quinn—forced to live in a secret relationship with a woman twice her age who she already lives with when she should be out doing regular teenage things and breaking up with people her own age every other week—but Shelby's not even sure if she wants this for herself. She's getting older now. She's just about to have the chance to meet her daughter for the first time and maybe have some sort of place in her life. She's getting tired of coaching glee and she's just about ready to move on. To what, she doesn't know, but she's pretty sure it's not a long-term relationship with a woman who is the exact same age as her daughter.

And all of this only comes into play _if_ she doesn't get fired and arrested for having sexual relations with a minor.

That's what her mind is telling her. But apparently her body has a will of its own (she thinks it may originate from the thing beating inside her chest) because it betrays her immediately and reaches for Quinn, pulling the blonde flush against her and kissing her until their tongues meet and they're both breathless.

"I don't think she'll say anything," Quinn says against Shelby's lips once they've stopped. "As long as I give her what she wants and stay away from glee. She doesn't have any proof."

Shelby knows that it doesn't actually take any proof to destroy a person, just someone with enough determination and a convincing story. She doesn't say so, though, just strokes the side of Quinn's face and sighs.

"I feel bad. I know how much glee means to you. And you have so much talent.

Quinn smiles weakly. "It's okay. I made my choice. I don't regret it."

It's certainly not the most convincing thing she's ever heard, but she allows herself to believe it anyway once Quinn starts kissing her again and stroking Shelby's body with a little more purpose.

xx

Jesse had already made contact with Rachel earlier in the week, just like Shelby had instructed him to. He'd managed to set up a date with her for tonight, which is almost too impressive for Shelby's taste, but if they're going to make any sort of progress, she needs Jesse to pull out all the stops. She decides to end practice a little earlier than usual in order to give Jesse enough time to prepare.

"Are you ready?" she asks him as everyone packs up to leave.

"Of course I'm ready," he replies with a smug smile on his face. "You should have seen her face when I sang to her on Tuesday; she practically fainted in the face of my talent. After tonight I could probably propose and get her to agree without any effort at all."

Shelby levels him with an icy glare because he seems to be forgetting the fact that this is her daughter they're talking about.

"Just remember to be romantic and _respectful_," she emphasizes with a look that threatens his precious vocal chords if he doesn't do what she says. He swallows and nods his understanding. "Good. I want a full report on Monday."

As she turns to gather her own things, she comes face to face with Dustin, who is standing in front of her with his hands glued to his thighs and his fingers tapping restlessly against them.

"Ms. Corcoran?" he says like he's not really sure if he's allowed to be speaking to her or not.

She quirks an eyebrow. "What's up, Dustin?"

"Well, I just was wondering…" His hand flies up to the back of his neck, which he rubs at furiously. "It's just, I noticed that Quinn wasn't at practice this week and I was wondering if everything was okay."

"She's fine, Dustin. She hasn't been at practice because she decided to quit glee," Shelby says a little waspishly. She doesn't really want to be rude to him, but the memory of Quinn's broken sobs and shaking body after he was done with her last week still makes her heart clench.

Dustin's face goes slightly pale at the news. "Did—did she say why?"

What he's really asking is if Quinn quit Vocal Adrenaline because of what he said to her, which Shelby knows is nowhere near the real reason, and it's clear that he still cares about her despite whatever stick he's got up his ass right now. She decides to cut him a break.

"She says she's got too much schoolwork. Apparently her chemistry grade is suffering."

"Oh," Dustin says with a nod. It's clear that he doesn't quite believe that story, but he seems willing to accept it for now anyway. "Okay, well. Thanks." Shelby gives him a tight-lipped nod and he goes to leave. "Uh, Ms. Corcoran, would you mind not telling Quinn that I asked about her?" he says suddenly and Shelby frowns at him. "It's just, I don't think she'll really appreciate the sentiment right now."

Shelby gives him a terse nod in reply because she's pretty sure he's actually right about that and he gives her a wave and stutters out some goodbyes before backing away like she's a hungry tiger who might attack at any moment. When he's finally gone, Shelby continues collecting her things and goes to retrieve Quinn from the library.

xx

Later that night Shelby fucks Quinn against the back of the couch and tries not to think about the fact that Jesse is probably trying to violate her daughter in the same way that she is violating Judy Fabray's.

xx

Christmas comes and goes quietly. Quinn makes them pancakes, eggs, and bacon for breakfast and afterwards Shelby hands her a small box wrapped in Christmas paper.

"Aren't you Jewish?" Quinn asks playfully. Shelby just rolls her eyes and waits as Quinn unwraps her present.

The box yields a golden bracelet with tiny stars all around it and Quinn gasps softly, running her fingers over it reverently.

"Gold stars are kind of my thing," Shelby explains, even though Quinn has already heard that several times before.

"It's beautiful, Shelby. Thank you," she says breathlessly as she fastens the bracelet to her left wrist.

Quinn hands over two gifts. The first is a special edition copy of _Across the Universe_. "I noticed you didn't have it, so I wanted to make sure your collection was complete." The second is a homemade CD entitled "Covers by Quinn Fabray."

Shelby looks up in surprise. "Quinn, did you record all of these?"

Quinn just shrugs sheepishly. "I've had a lot of free time lately."

"I can't wait to listen to it," Shelby says with an awed smile. Quinn just blushes.

They complete the morning by making love in Shelby's bed until well past noon before Quinn drives herself over to see her mother for a few hours.

xx

A few days before New Years Eve Quinn emerges from her bedroom to find Jesse and Shelby engaged in what appears to be a pretty intense conversation. It's weird to see him there and she tries to walk quietly so that she can catch some of their words. The floorboards creak underneath her foot just as she comes into earshot and both of their heads snap up immediately to look at her. Jesse, ever the performer, recovers in an instant and flashes her a bright smile.

"Quinn! It's great to see you, and might I add that you're looking lovely today as usual?" Quinn glances down at her outfit—a pair of Carmel High sweatpants and one of Shelby's old musical cast tees—and just shakes her head. Jesse doesn't take any notice and continues to plow ahead. "Shelby and I were just talking about how difficult it's going to be to wow the judges at regionals this year without your stunning voice to help us out, especially now that we're up against that promising talent from McKinley."

"Well, I'm sure you'll pull it off, Jesse. You always do. I know you won't let anything stop you from getting one last nationals title to your name," Quinn replies blandly. She catches Shelby's smirk out of the corner of her eye as Jesse practically beams at her and jumps up off the couch.

"That's so kind of you to say, Quinn. Anyway, I really should be going, but before I do, I wanted to invite you to my annual New Years Eve bash. All the kids from Vocal Adrenaline will be there and I know they're dying to see you again. You can meet my new girlfriend as well!"

Shelby's jaw clenches instantly at that, but she manages to loosen it as Quinn glances at her questioningly.

"You should go," she says as encouragingly as she can. "It'll be boring here with me and I always fall asleep before midnight anyway."

Quinn wants to say that she can think of plenty of ways to make sure that Shelby stays awake, but she does kind of miss some of her friends from glee, and it's not like she has to stay too long anyway.

"Sounds great," she agrees finally and Jesse claps loudly.

"Excellent! I'll see you then. Have a wonderful day, ladies," he says before backing out of the apartment. Quinn gives him a tiny wave and then glances at Shelby with something like exasperation. Shelby just shakes her head.

"Well, as exciting as that was, I need to run to the store real quick. Do you need anything?"

Quinn shakes her head, so Shelby gets up and gives her a quick kiss before grabbing her keys and coat and heading out the door. Quinn stares after her, Shelby's hushed whisper of the name Rachel echoing in her head.

xx

Jesse's party is already in full swing by the time Quinn arrives, but he still opens the door personally when she rings the bell and ushers her in excitedly, taking her coat from her and complimenting her appearance.

"Look who's here, everyone!" he announces at the top of his lungs as he drags her into the living room. The kids from Vocal Adrenaline cheer and some of them run up to give her a hug and tell her that they've missed her at practice. "See? I told you," Jesse says, and his smile could split his face in two. "Here, I want you to meet someone."

He reaches into the throng of people and magically pulls a short brunette out of the crowd. Quinn's breath catches in her throat when the girl turns around and she's met with a pair of large brown eyes.

"Quinn Fabray, I'd like you to meet my girlfriend, Rachel Berry. Rachel, this is Quinn."

"Nice to meet you, Quinn," Rachel says with a nervous smile. Quinn shakes her hand dumbly. This is _the_ girl. The girl that had Shelby so shaken up after sectionals. The girl that they had been discussing yesterday. The girl that Jesse is apparently now dating.

"I saw you at sectionals," Quinn replies without thinking. "You were amazing."

Rachel blushes lightly, but her smile turns proud and it reminds Quinn so much of Jesse that she finds it a little gross.

"Thank you very much."

"Ah, you two are friends already," Jesse says jovially. "Quinn, would you do me a favor and keep Rachel company while I go attend to my guests?" Quinn barely has time to breathe before he's giving Rachel a kiss on the cheek and disappearing into the crowd.

The two of them stand there somewhat awkwardly for several moments. Quinn tries her best not to stare, but now that she's close to Rachel, the similarities between her and Shelby are even more glaringly obvious.

"So," Rachel says finally, and Quinn doesn't even have to strain to hear her over the music because she speaks so loudly, "I assume that you're in Vocal Adrenaline as well?"

"I was until recently," Quinn replies, "but my grades were starting to suffer."

"Yes, I can see how that might happen. Your practice schedules are quite intensive," Rachel agrees. Quinn nods.

"Yeah, well, Shelby knows how to win, anyway."

"Shelby Corcoran, your coach?" Rachel asks, her eyes lighting up with interest.

"Yeah. You, uh, kind of remind me of her, actually," Quinn says. Before Rachel can question her on that, someone bumps into Quinn, splashing their drink onto her. Rachel gasps loudly.

"Oh man, I'm so…" Quinn stops shaking the sticky drink off of her arm to look up at the person. "Quinn."

"Dustin," she acknowledges darkly.

"Quinn, I'm really sorry. Here, let me help you get cleaned up," he offers guiltily, reaching for her.

"Don't!" Quinn snaps loudly, and he flinches away. "Excuse me, Rachel."

"Of—of course," Rachel stutters out as Quinn storms off toward the bathroom. Much to her annoyance, Dustin follows.

"Quinn, I swear I didn't mean to."

"Whatever," she mutters, using a hand towel to wipe herself off.

"Well, are you okay? Do you want me to find you a change of clothes?" he asks nervously.

"Look, you've made it pretty clear that you don't care about me over the past few weeks, so you might as well stop wasting your breath pretending now," Quinn says, shooting a glare at him in the mirror. He looks away from her gaze.

"Come on, Quinn. You know I didn't mean that stuff I said," he tells her quietly.

"Oh yeah?" she sneers nastily. "Well, you were pretty fucking convincing to me."

She leaves him standing there in the bathroom as she hurries back through the house, muttering a quick goodbye to Jesse and Rachel on the way out.

Shelby is not asleep when she gets home and she looks surprised to see Quinn return so soon. Quinn just ignores her worried questions and strips her dress off over her head, dropping it carelessly to the floor as she stalks over to the couch and straddles Shelby, kissing her without preamble.

Shelby recovers pretty quickly for having a half-naked Quinn in her lap. She gets rid of Quinn's bra with a flick of her wrist and has to pause for Quinn to rip her own shirt off over her head before the blonde attacks her again, grinding down roughly. Shelby moans into the kiss and reaches up to palm Quinn's breasts, but Quinn rips her mouth away quickly.

"No," she growls, dragging one of Shelby's hands down into her underwear. "Fuck me."

Shelby gushes at the sound of Quinn's demand and wastes no time in burying three fingers deep inside of her. Quinn's resounding moan is obscene. Her hips begin moving immediately, grinding down onto Shelby's fingers with bruising force. Shelby leans down to suck a rosy nipple into her mouth as she thumbs Quinn's clit roughly. Quinn bucks hard, gripping Shelby's hair painfully. Her whimpers and cries reach a crescendo within minutes. Shelby makes one final harsh press, curls her fingers, flicks her thumb. Quinn comes apart to the faint sound of cheering as the countdown on the television reaches zero.

An hour later Shelby is naked and asleep underneath her on the couch. Quinn reaches over and grabs her phone off of the coffee table and sends her mother a happy New Years text.

xx

News reaches her by lunchtime the following Wednesday: Jesse St. James has transferred to McKinley High.

"Aren't you the least bit upset by this?" Quinn asks Shelby before English.

Shelby just shrugs. "He'll be back," she says knowingly, and Quinn just shakes her head in bewilderment as she turns to sit down.

"Hey," Dustin calls to her as she passes him. "Can we talk?"

"I don't have anything to say to you," is Quinn's disinterested reply.

"Please?" he asks desperately.

"No."

He doesn't try again.


	12. Chapter 12

**Title:** Kiss and Tell (Loose Lips Sink Ships)  
><strong>Author:<strong> texaswatermelon  
><strong>Fandom:<strong> Glee  
><strong>Pairing:<strong> Quinn/Shelby, eventual Quinn/Brittany, eventual Rachel/Santana  
><strong>Rating:<strong> R, for language and possible adult situations  
><strong>Summary:<strong> _Most people in Vocal Adrenaline tend to feel one of two ways about Shelby Corcoran: they either loathe her with all the fire of a thousand of Carmel High's stage lights, or they possess some amount of sickening admiration for her. Quinn is really a mix of these two extremes._  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Glee is property of Ryan Murphy Television and 20th Century Fox. All characters, places, and recognizable names herein have been borrowed for the use of this fanfiction. Title from "XO" by Fall Out Boy. This story is a work of fiction and is in no way affiliated with the aforementioned groups. No infringement intended.  
><strong>AN:** AU Quinn has always gone to Carmel school district, so none of her storyline from Glee applies. This takes place during the same year as season 1 of Glee, so just assume spoilers for all episodes. On the WMHS side of things, there will be an OC who will replace Quinn and take over her whole plot. Assume that everything follows cannon over there unless otherwise mentioned in the story. As far as Vocal Adrenalin goes, I'll be mentioning some real characters and some OC characters, so don't get confused there. If anything is unclear, just ask and I'll try my best to Windex that shit. Unbeta'd; all mistakes are my own.  
><strong>Warnings:<strong> This story deals with issues of alcoholism, abuse of prescription medication, neglect, minor instances of child abuse, student/teacher relationships, sexual relations with a minor, and of course femslash. Now, as far as I know, the legal age of consent in Ohio is 16, but it's still pretty taboo; we're talking about a relationship between a sixteen-year-old and a woman in her mid thirties, so. If any of that stuff is a bother to you, I would suggest finding something else to read. Also, angst. So, that being said, please enjoy.

**And so for all of you who thought that I was never coming back, here I am again to prove you wrong. Of course I really have no excuse as to why this took so long other than the fact that I just have the most sporadic bursts of inspiration ever and then the rest of my life is nothing but dry spell. But yes, as promised I have not given up on this story, nor will I.**

**I would like to preface this chapter by saying that you guys are going to be really confused like, immediately and it's going to seem like this happens incredibly suddenly, but it's supposed to feel like that, so don't worry because you didn't miss anything. This is just one more necessary step in Quinn's journey.**

**I also have one more thing to say, and that is this: Quelby is not endgame in this story. I don't even know how many times people have sent me reviews since the last chapter and asked me to reconsider this, but you guys might as well save your breath because it's not happening and all it does is annoy me. I know you like Quelby and all, and that's great, but the way this story is set up and where it's heading, it's just not possible or realistic for Quelby to be endgame. I started this story with the intentions of it ending with Quitt, and that's how it's going to stay. If you don't like that, feel free to stop reading at any time. But for the love of god please stop asking me to keep it Quelby because it's not happening.**

**That said, thank you for the many many reviews and favorites and such that you guys gave me since the last chapter and sorry for being such a shithead with the update time.**

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><p>The knock on the door is loud and unexpected. Quinn startles and snaps her head up off of Shelby's chest where it's resting. She looks at Shelby with alarm while Shelby glances down at her watch.<p>

"Who could possibly be here at ten-thirty?" she mutters, getting up to answer the door. Quinn follows close behind, frowning worriedly when she notices Shelby's face pale as she looks through the peephole. Shelby steps back and takes a steadying breath before unlatching the lock and opening the door.

Two officers dressed in blue stand before them looking very serious.

"Quinn Fabray?" one of them, probably in his mid-forties with soft brown eyes, asks.

Quinn blanches and looks to Shelby, who is stony-faced and pale, having some sort of staring contest with the younger, steel-eyed officer in front of her.

"That's… me," Quinn says slowly, dreading the worst. _This is it_, she thinks. _Andrea told and now they're going to take me away and throw Shelby in jail._ She feels herself shaking at the prospect of never seeing Shelby again.

The first officer takes his hat off and looks at her gravely. "My name is Officer Kelso. This here is my partner, Officer Miller." The blue-eyed officer tips his hat to her. "I'm terribly sorry to have to inform you that there was an accident this evening."

Quinn tries to swallow, but her mouth is suddenly too dry, her throat too tight. "What—what kind of accident?"

"Your mother was on her way to an AA meeting this evening when she was hit by a drunk driver," Officer Miller tells her as simply as if he were talking about the weather. Quinn's brain immediately points out the irony of that as she stares blankly ahead. Of course her mother would get hit by a drunk driver on her way to an AA meeting. Of course. It makes perfect sense.

"Oh God," Shelby whispers, her face contorted in horror. _Yes_, Quinn thinks, _that's what my reaction should be. That's how a normal person should respond._ "Is she alright?"

"I'm afraid not, ma'am," Officer Kelso replies in a pained voice. "She passed away before the ambulance arrived. I'm very sorry."

He's looking at Quinn now, but Quinn is not looking at him. She's staring into Officer Miller's icy, emotionless eyes. She can't bear to look at Officer Kelso's sympathetic face or Shelby's mix of horror and worry. If she does, she may crumble to dust before their very eyes.

Dead. Her mother is dead. There were many times over the years that Quinn had almost wished that she would wake up one morning to find her mother cold and lifeless on the couch. At least then Judy would finally be at peace. But now… now that she was finally starting to get to know her mother again, this happens. She can't believe it, can't fathom it at all. Just yesterday Quinn had visited her mother to check up on her and Judy had been up and lucid, sober for almost two months. They talked about school and Shelby and current events, what Quinn wanted to do over the summer. Now Judy Fabray was lying dead in a morgue somewhere. Quinn would never see her again, never hear her voice, never have the chance to move back in with her or congratulate her on reaching a year of sobriety.

"How bad was it?" she asks finally, and her voice is barely recognizable. The question is directed at Miller because she knows by the look in his eye that he will not sugar coat it for her. He doesn't disappoint.

"They had to use dental records to confirm the identity of the body."

Shelby turns her head away in disgust. Her hand is heavy on Quinn's shoulder and she uses it to draw Quinn in close to her side. Quinn allows her to do it, but she doesn't react to it. Her mind is a blank slate. The only thing she can see is her mother curled up on the couch with her favorite sweatshirt on, smiling up at Quinn with pale eyes and a thin face.

"Someone will be in touch soon with more details. You can claim the body at the city morgue after the autopsy is finished. In the meantime, you may want to contact your mother's lawyer about her will." Shelby is nodding for her at all of this, so Quinn doesn't bother. Officer Kelso hands her a card. "You can call us anytime if you need anything. I'm very sorry for your loss."

Shelby thanks them and shuts the door without Quinn even noticing. It's not until she feels herself being turned and pulled fully into a strong embrace that she realizes that the men are gone, almost like a dream.

"Oh, baby I'm so sorry," Shelby sighs into her ear. Her voice is thick as though she might cry at any moment. She smells like coffee and shampoo and it makes Quinn feel like she can breathe again.

She feels herself being led somewhere and a second later she's being pulled down onto the couch and into Shelby's lap, cradled almost like a baby. Her face settles into the crook of Shelby's neck and Shelby holds her tightly, stroking her hair and murmuring softly into her ear. Quinn wonders suddenly why Shelby never had any children, because she would have made a fantastic mother. Images appear unbidden in her mind of a young Rachel Berry coming home from school to show Shelby her latest art project, or blowing away the audience at nationals while Shelby stands in the wings and looks on proudly. She doesn't know why she thinks of this. Rachel obviously has her own mother and Shelby has no children, but it's what her brain supplies and so she allows herself to envision it.

The sound of the eleven o' clock news starting up catches her ears and Quinn hears the anchor, a woman, start in immediately with the story of an awful car crash resulting in the deaths of both drivers, identities as yet unreleased. She hears Shelby make a noise of disgust in the back of her throat and then her whole world shifts as she leans forward for something, then back. It is only with the sound of the TV dying in the background that Quinn finally realizes that they were talking about her mother. She'd already forgotten; already convinced herself that it was a dream.

It suddenly clicks in Quinn's head, what she heard on the news. Both drivers died in the crash. That means that the person who killed her mother, whoever it was, gets off easy. He probably wanted to die, probably got into his car with the intention of reaching death, and so he did. Just not alone. Instead, he took someone with him; someone, who after so many years of reaching for death, was finally learning to yearn for life again. This person would never pay retribution for what he took from her. She was left to suffer the consequences of his actions alone.

Quinn feels her breathing get shallow, like she can't get enough air into her lungs. She pants short, hot breaths into Shelby's neck, but she doesn't cry. Shelby holds her tighter and Quinn hears her sniffle quietly. It's almost too much. What is she supposed to do now? What is she supposed to look forward to? For over ten years Quinn has had almost no need of her mother, but now, faced with the prospect of living the rest of her life without Judy Fabray, she realizes that she does need her. She needs her mother. And now she's gone.

xx

Quinn wakes up very early the next morning feeling completely unrested. She's in Shelby's bed, wrapped tightly in the woman's arms and it suddenly feels like she's suffocating. She untangles herself as gently as possible and rolls away, staring blankly at the wall. Her mouth is incredibly dry and her head is pulsing with a dull throb, but other than that she feels nothing. She thinks nothing.

After a time, she gets out of bed and walks slowly to the bathroom. When she's done, she stares at herself in the mirror. For a split second, she sees her mother staring back at her and feels her stomach turn. But then it's just Quinn again, staring back at her with dead eyes and pale skin. She remembers the first time she looked at herself in this mirror, with a huge purple bruise under her eye. She had been eager to leave then, to get back to her home and have Shelby stop trying to take care of her. She wonders what might be different if she knew then what she knows now.

Shelby wakes up to pale sunlight creeping in through the window and a cold, empty bed. She rolls out of bed quickly and pads into the living room, releasing a heavy sigh of relief when she sees Quinn sitting on the couch. She's not sure what she expected exactly, but she's just glad that everything appears to be fairly normal. Quinn is sitting there completely motionless, staring at a random spot on the wall. She doesn't even acknowledge the fact that Shelby has entered the room. It looks like she's barely even breathing.

"Morning," Shelby says into the still air, and she almost flinches at the sound of her own voice, as though it will cause something to break. When she receives no response, she clears her throat and tries again "I called the principal last night and explained everything, so we don't have to worry about school for a few days."

It takes several moments of oppressing silence before Shelby finally gets a very quiet and cracked "okay." She takes a deep breath to steel herself before walking over to the couch and sitting on the edge very gingerly, making sure to keep several inches of space between Quinn and herself. To be honest, she's not really sure what the rules are here, but she thinks she knows Quinn well enough to know that hugs and kisses are not going to make this okay. Still, she has to try _something_, because right now Quinn looks like nothing more than a statue, and it's scaring her.

"How are you feeling?" she asks tentatively, and what a stupid question, but she can't take it back now.

"Fine." The response is automatic and somehow Quinn manages to give it without moving anything other than her lips.

She doesn't know what else to say, and she can't bear to see Quinn in this state, so she just turns her head away and looks toward the kitchen.

The phone suddenly rings very shrilly from its place on the wall and Quinn flinches at the noise just slightly, though Shelby is too busy leaping from the couch to retrieve it to notice. She answers the phone and a listless female voice greets her on the other end.

"Hello, I'm calling from the city morgue. Is this Ms. Shelby Corcoran?"

"Yes," Shelby replies tersely, because this is already the worst phone call she's ever experienced and it hasn't even started yet.

"We have the remains of a Judy Fabray here for pickup by her next of kin, a…" the woman pauses and Shelby can hear her shuffle through some papers, "Quinn Fabray."

Shelby closes her eyes and swallows hard. "Okay."

"The remains are available for her to retrieve at her earliest convenience."

"Okay, thank you."

"Of course. I'm sorry for your loss. Have a nice day."

Shelby hangs up the phone with a little more force than is strictly necessary and takes a moment to compose herself before turning back to face Quinn, who it appears hasn't moved a muscle yet.

"That was the morgue," Shelby says very slowly, as though she can possibly avoid having to speak the words aloud by delaying them as long as possible. "They have your—" She stops abruptly, because telling Quinn that they have her mother's body for her to pick up is about he most disgusting and tactless thing she can ever imagine saying. "They're ready for you whenever."

"Okay," Quinn replies, and her voice could probably be out-livened by Judy herself right now. "I'm ready now."

"Quinn," Shelby says urgently, because all of this is just a little too much for her, "you don't have to do this. You can stay here and I'll go talk to your mother's lawyer and make sure everything is in order, and—"

"No!"

It's probably the loudest she's ever heard Quinn speak in all the time she's known her, and she has to take a step back just to balance herself against it. Quinn has gone from being completely motionless all morning to standing straight up and baring her shoulders like she's ready to tackle Shelby down in a matter of seconds. Her eyes blaze golden green and her chest heaves with each angry breath.

"I want to go," she says, softer now, but still very firm. Shelby can do nothing more than nod silently in agreement.

"I'll go get dressed and we can leave," she says quietly. Quinn takes a deep breath, sits back down, and doesn't respond.

xx

The morgue is in the basement of an official building at the east end of town. They are met at the desk by a rail-thin woman with short, mouse-brown hair and splotchy skin, and Shelby immediately knows by the expression on her face that it's the same woman she spoke to on the phone.

"Quinn Fabray," she says, looking over the desk at Quinn, and it's not a question. Quinn returns her blank stare with a matching one of her own. "One second."

The woman disappears into a back room for several minutes and then returns with a small cardboard box in her hands, taped neatly on all sides with a sticker on top that reads _Fabray, Judith_ and gives a few other details that make no sense and are probably used for record-keeping purposes. She slides the box across the surface of the desk towards Quinn, along with a clipboard. Shelby doesn't understand at first, doesn't know what the hell that box is for unless it's personal effects that were found in the car after the accident. It's not until after Quinn has signed a few papers on the clipboard and reaches out to take the box that she realizes. It's not Judy's personal effects; it's _Judy_ in that box. She has to turn her head away and force the bile back down her throat so that she doesn't vomit everywhere.

Quinn, for her part, knows exactly what's in the box as soon as she sees it. Once she's done signing the release papers, she regards the box curiously for a few seconds before reaching out for it. She grasps the sides gently in her hands and picks it up almost reverently. She is surprised by both the heaviness and lightness of the box; surprised because she didn't expect a pile of ashes to be quite so heavy, but she also can't believe that an entire human body can be reduced to ten pounds or less. She quietly thanks the coroner and turns away with Judy clutched tightly to her chest. Shelby follows her back to the car, looking dangerously pale and on the verge of being sick.

"Do you want me to drive?" Quinn asks, and her voice is perfectly calm as though she isn't clutching a box full of her mother's ashes to her chest. Shelby's not even sure how Quinn plans on driving considering the fact that it doesn't even look like she plans on relinquishing the box for anything.

"It's fine," Shelby croaks in reply and climbs into the driver's side to start up the car. Quinn gets in on the other side and holds the box on her lap the entire way home.

xx

Shelby spends the rest of the morning getting in contact with Judy's lawyer, and he clears his schedule for the afternoon in order to come over and explain the contents of Judy's will. Quinn is holed up in her room with the box, and has been since they got home. Shelby brings her some lunch around noon, but when she returns two hours later to check on her, she finds the meal untouched. She can't really find it in her to pester Quinn about it. She can't even fathom what the girl must be thinking, must be feeling. Quinn's expression and posture are both stony still, but behind those hazel eyes Shelby can see a swarm of emotions, like a class five hurricane, and she is both afraid of getting caught in the storm and of being unable to clean up the wreckage that's left behind.

Mr. Swartz comes by at 2:30. He's a short, balding man with a potato for a nose and constantly flushed skin. He wears a very expensive-looking three-piece suit and greets Shelby with a handshake and a look of deep regret in his eyes.

"I was so shocked to hear about what happened to Judy this morning that I almost had to go to the hospital over an asthma attack! Thank you," he says graciously when Shelby offers him a glass of water. "She was such a nice lady, never did deserve the poor lot she got after that accident. And her girl Quinn, now there's a sharp one. And a talented singer, I hear too! How is she doing?" His beady eyes glance around the living room as though she may be hiding in a corner somewhere waiting for him to ask about her.

"She's… dealing as well as she can," Shelby says politely.

"Hmm," Mr. Swartz hums in agreement. "She's a strong girl; took care of her mom all those years. She'll pull through."

Shelby smiles tightly and silently wishes that he would get to the point.

"Well! Let's get to it, shall we? I believe the first order of business is to tell you that Judy visited me about a month ago, looking the healthiest I've seen her in ten years, mind you, and made a few changes to her will, the most important of them being that in the case of her death or any other circumstance which might render her incapacitated, guardianship of Quinn would be granted to one Shelby Corcoran, which if I'm not mistaken is you, ma'am. Is that correct?"

Shelby can't control the look of complete disbelief that takes over her face. "Excuse me?" Maybe she didn't hear correctly. The man was babbling about a mile a minute, so she could have very easily mistaken his words to mean something else.

"Well, she explained the situation to me, how you've been taking care of Quinn recently while Judy was seeking help for her problems, and apparently she trusts you very much with her daughter's welfare. So, as long as you're willing to keep this arrangement up for the next two years until Quinn is an adult, I have some papers right here for you to sign and we can make it official."

He says it with such glee that Shelby feels pretty bad at the amount of abject horror she feels over this turn of events, but becoming Quinn's legal guardian is such a new level of wrong considering the circumstances that she just can't find it in her to feel anything other than appalled. How in the hell could Judy have possibly named her as Quinn's guardian without her knowledge? And why? Didn't Quinn have any other family out there? Why trust someone who was almost a complete stranger with your child in the event of your death? It just didn't make any logical sense to her.

But she couldn't say no. What kind of awful person would that make her? And what would happen to Quinn? By law she would probably have to be thrown into the foster care system, which would take her God knows where, and Shelby would probably end up trying to get her back anyway. In all actuality, Judy had somehow managed to make things a thousand times easier for them both without even knowing it.

"Yes," Shelby says finally, now that Mr. Swartz is beginning to look concerned, "of course. I'll sign those right away."

Mr. Swartz beams at her and flips through some papers. "Excellent! Now the next order of business is the matter of Quinn's inheritance, which as you may know is quite a large sum of money left over from the lawsuit. Per Judy's request, I've set up an account for Quinn which allows her to have access to twenty percent of that inheritance now, and the rest of it when she turns eighteen. All we have to do is have her sign this paper accepting ownership of the account, and then you of course will be her co-signer."

Shelby nods numbly while he explains the intricate details of the account; what Quinn can and cannot do with her money and the circumstances under which she can receive her full inheritance when she becomes an adult. It doesn't really matter, considering the fact that Quinn probably won't even need half of the twenty percent that she already has access to, and Shelby is no one to tell her what to do with her own money. She just wants this man to leave so that the two of them can deal with the aftermath of this mess together.

Once she's signed all the necessary papers and called Quinn out of her room so that she can do her part as well, and after Mr. Swartz gives a fifteen-minute speech to Quinn about how wonderful her mother is, he leaves them alone. Quinn is back in her room with the door shut before Shelby can speak.

xx

For the next three days, Quinn sits on her bed with the box placed in front of her and stares at it while she thinks. She replays the last sixteen years of her life, from her very first memory to this exact moment, searching for any clue as to how she got here.

She knows that Shelby is worried about her. She comes by to drop off a meal three times a day. They go untouched for the first day and a half before Quinn begins to feel faint and realizes that she'll end up dead too if she doesn't at least eat. Sometimes Shelby lingers in the doorway of her room, but she doesn't say anything and Quinn doesn't acknowledge her presence.

She suddenly has a thought, and it's one that repulses her completely, but once she feels the first tickle of it in the back of her mind, she can't make it go away. She sits and stares at the box with her mother's name on it and wonders what's inside. What do the ashes of a human being look like? Will they remind her of Judy at all?

The thought begins to consume her until she can think of nothing else, and finally she moves off of her bed for the first time in what feels like forever and retrieves a pair of scissors from the desk. Very carefully, she brings the box to the edge of the bed and uses the scissors to slice through the tape on the top of the box. Then she stands there and stares at what she's done. She can't go back now.

Quinn reaches out, so slowly that it's as if her hand isn't moving at all, but it's steady and eventually she grasps the flaps of the box and pulls them back. What she finds inside is a plastic bag, very similar to a garbage bag, filled with brown-gray ashes. They aren't thin and wispy, like cigarette ashes or burnt paper, but heavy and thick; a large pile of disintegrated bone and maybe other things that didn't completely melt away during the cremation.

And now Quinn is plagued with images of her mother's body being pushed into a giant oven, watching the skin bubble and melt, the blood sizzle, the muscle cook like chicken for dinner. Without warning, she vomits, loudly and onto the bedspread, narrowly missing the box of ashes. It isn't thirty seconds before Shelby is bursting through the door. She doesn't ask questions, merely runs to Quinn's side as she finishes throwing up. Quinn looks up at her, eyes streaming tears from the force of being sick.

"I don't want them," she croaks.

Shelby only nods and leads Quinn across the hall to take a hot bath while she goes about cleaning up the mess and putting the ashes out of sight until she can make the proper arrangements.

xx

They go to the closest cemetery, a huge sprawling place with grey and white gleaming headstones that stretch across lush green grass for miles, standing at attention like the ghosts of soldiers. At the center is a looming marble mausoleum, and this is where Quinn puts her mother to rest, inside a bronze drawer that will soon have her name engraved on it, with the blessings of a priest that she has never met before this day and will never see again. She doesn't say a word the entire time. Shelby stands solemnly by her side and grips her hand tightly.

When it's all over, the priest gives her his condolences. Shelby thanks him and he leaves. Quinn traces the edges of the drawer that now holds her mother's ashes, wondering if this is what Judy wanted for her remains, if she would have preferred having her body rot in a wooden box under the earth, if she even cared. It hardly matters now, so she wishes Judy peace and turns away, taking Shelby's hand once more and leaving the mausoleum behind.

"I'm going to change," Shelby says once they get home and she's sure Quinn isn't going to have a breakdown. She hangs up her coat and walks down the hallway towards her bedroom, but she barely gets past the bathroom before she feels strong fingers gripping her shoulder and suddenly she's being spun around and pushed into the wall and Quinn's lips are covering hers with a fervent urgency that is unmistakable.

Shelby can only manage to find purchase on Quinn, so she fists one hand in thick blonde locks and grips a firm hip with the other while Quinn attacks her mouth. She groans as Quinn's tongue pushes past her lips and a sort of fire ignites inside of her that is wholly inappropriate considering where they just came from.

Quinn has done away with the buttons on her blouse far too easily and she pulls Shelby off of the wall just long enough to get rid of the shirt and bra before pinning her back down. Shelby hisses at the cold paint against her bare skin while Quinn attacks her neck and chest with harsh, biting teeth. Quinn's mouth attaches to her nipple while she tugs impatiently at the zipper on Shelby's skirt. She should probably help before her skirt ends up ruined, but Quinn's mouth has rendered her completely useless. Quinn manages on her own, however, and the skirt drops to the floor silently, quickly followed by Shelby's underwear. And then Quinn is pushing into her without preamble and it's all she can do to stay upright.

Quinn seems to realize that Shelby is not going to last long this way, so she leaves Shelby's breast with a pop and straightens enough to pull one of Shelby's legs around her hip. Shelby takes the hint and pulls Quinn tighter to her, wrapping her hand around the back of Quinn's neck and pulling her into a desperate kiss to drown out the keening noises that are erupting from her mouth as Quinn takes advantage of the new angle.

It doesn't take nearly as long as it probably should for Shelby to get off, but the way that Quinn is pounding into her has her back slick with sweat as she slides against the wall, and soon she is shaking and clenching around Quinn's fingers. Quinn bites her lip in concentration while Shelby rides her out. Her brow is glistening from the effort of it all, but she doesn't stop even when Shelby seems to have come down, and soon Shelby is coming for a second time.

When she finally regains her senses, Shelby finds Quinn kissing her throat. Her fingers are still buried deep inside and Shelby gets the feeling that Quinn might have plans to start again, so she reaches down and gingerly removes Quinn's hand and sets her foot back on the floor. Quinn finally looks up at her and Shelby strokes her sweaty face, pulls her into a sweet kiss. Quinn is quick to pull away. She grabs Shelby's hand and takes them into the bedroom that Shelby had been headed toward originally, stepping over discarded clothes.

Quinn allows Shelby to remove her clothes when they get there. Shelby has Quinn lie down, kisses her tenderly and works her hands over the familiar body with care. It is very clear by the way that Quinn pulls Shelby towards her and kisses her fiercely that she isn't looking for tenderness or care, though. Shelby recognizes this for what it is: Quinn trying to assert some sort of control over her life again through sex. She wishes that there was a way for her to make Quinn see that this won't fix anything, won't make her feel any better. But Quinn is lying beneath her, open and wanting, and Shelby knows her well enough to know that if she gives Quinn what she wants now, she will be more receptive to Shelby's efforts to help her later. And so she proceeds to fuck Quinn the way Quinn wants her to—hard and deep and relentlessly.

By the time Quinn is finally exhausted enough to sleep, the sheets are soaked with their sweat, the air is thick with the smell of them, and Shelby has come more times than she can count. She knows that they'll have a lot to deal with once they wake, but for now she allows herself to pull Quinn's sleeping body closer and drift off.

xx

Surprisingly, she wakes before Quinn, who is lying on her stomach with the sheets half thrown off, snoring lightly. Shelby has no idea how long they've been out, but she needs a glass of water about as much as she needs air, so she climbs out of bed as carefully as she can and heads for the kitchen.

As she gulps down her first glass of water, she realizes that maybe coffee would be a good idea, so she sets about making that with such practiced ease that she doesn't even hear footsteps behind her. She nearly jumps out of her skin when she feels Quinn's warm hands slide around to her front, but the feeling of soft lips on her shoulder relaxes her immediately. She leans back with a soft smile and reaches her hand back around to tangle in Quinn's hair.

Quinn has come with a purpose. Her hand snakes quickly down Shelby's stomach and between her legs. Shelby groans at the first touch of Quinn's fingers over her clit. She is sore and swollen from their previous activities, her clit literally throbbing from overuse. And still, as if trying to prove to her just how obscene she is, her body reacts positively to the touch. She shifts her legs further apart and grips the edge of the counter as Quinn fingers her clit, slowly at first, and then with increasing rapidness. She rubs in tight little circles while Shelby's hips jut forward and her half-raw throat emits low, scratchy moans.

It's over by the time the coffee has finished brewing. Shelby can really only manage to lean against Quinn for several moments, which Quinn doesn't really seem to mind as she sucks lightly on Shelby's shoulder. When her hand starts moving again though, Shelby spurs into action and turns around.

"There is no way I can possibly survive if you start that again," she murmurs against Quinn's lips. Quinn looks disappointed, but she nods and steps away. Shelby fills her mug with the freshly made coffee and turns to face Quinn again, who is yawning widely. "Why don't you go back to bed?"

Quinn seems on the verge of protesting, but another yawn cuts her off. Shelby smirks and Quinn while chagrinned. "Yeah, okay," she says quietly. She steps forward and give Shelby a quick peck on the lips before ambling off down the hall.

Once she's gone, Shelby sighs heavily and falls back against the counter. She thinks long and hard about the situation as she sips her coffee. If Quinn's reaction after their trip to the cemetery today is any indication, the girl is still not dealing with all of this very well. Shelby can't even recall a single instance of Quinn crying throughout this whole ordeal. Not that she really wants Quinn to have to cry, but if Quinn can't grieve properly, then they'll never be able to move on.

There is one person, Shelby thinks. One person who is almost certain to get some sort of emotional reaction out of Quinn other than this blankness and sexual ferocity that she's been exhibiting with Shelby. It sounds like a really terrible idea and it could totally backfire, but the more she thinks about it, the more she realizes that she doesn't have much of a choice. Quinn needs something familiar in her life.

With a resigned sigh, Shelby finishes her coffee and rinses out her cup. She walks back to her bedroom to find that Quinn is already asleep, so she gets dressed very quietly and makes a phone call.

xx

Quinn has no idea what time it is when she wakes up. All she knows is that it's dark outside and the bed next to her is empty, has probably not been reclaimed since she went back to sleep.

A sound from the living room reminds Quinn why she woke up in the first place. She realizes that someone is knocking on the door and has been for at least a few minutes. With a heavy groan, she rolls out of bed and ambles into her own room, where she finds a pair of sweats and a shirt to throw on. The knocking has persisted this entire time and Quinn growls at the annoyance, wondering where the hell Shelby could be. It's clear that she isn't in the apartment though, so Quinn goes over to the door and rips it open without checking to see who's behind it.

Dustin is mid-knock when the door flies open to reveal a very sleep-ruffled Quinn. She stares at him for several seconds, as if not really recognizing who he is, before her face contorts and he nearly winces because it's clear that she's pissed.

"What the hell do you want?" she barks.

Dustin balks. He had a whole speech planned out, but the sight of Quinn after all this time, looking like she's just come back from war and barely survived, stops the words in his throat. He suddenly wonders why it's taken him this long, why it's been months since he's really spoken to his best friend, why he even started this bullshit in the first place. Quinn needed him. She needed him and he wasn't there for her.

"I'm sorry," he croaks out finally, because it's the best he can do right now.

Quinn actually _growls_ at him and moves to slam the door in his face, but he is stronger than she is and pushes his way into the apartment.

"I'm sorry," he says again, and then he's wrapping her up in a hug for the first time in a very long time, and even though she's pushing and clawing and swearing at him he just holds her tighter. "I'm so sorry."

He says it to her over and over again like a mantra until it eventually starts to sink into her brain. The feel of his arms around her starts to become familiar again and the scent of his cologne brings back so many memories that her protestations become less and less until they disappear altogether. She sags into his arms and buries her face in his shoulder and breathes him in.

"I'm sorry, Quinn," he says again, and the sound of his voice choked with tears unleashes something within her. She sobs, harder and harder until the tears soak into his shirt and he is holding her upright. She cries for the first time since the police showed up at their door so many nights ago. She cries until she has no more tears, no more energy, and Dustin cries with her and holds her tightly and whispers brokenly into her hear.

"I love you, Quinn. I'm sorry."


End file.
